--- title: "1 Books Essential Quotes By Aidan Chambers" description: "1 Books Essential quotes by Aidan Chambers. Plus more from Aidan Chambers and more Books Essential sayings from other authors." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/374/aidan-chambers-10534_book_books-are-essential-to-me-i-cannot-live_2773855.jpg" --- > [“Books are essential to me. I cannot live without them, because I cannot live without reading. But, Arry has just said to me, you can always borrow them so why buy them? I don't buy books just to collect them.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aidan-chambers/books-are-essential-to-me-i-cannot-live-without-them-because-i-cannot/) [Aidan Chambers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aidan-chambers/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/374/aidan-chambers-10534_book_books-are-essential-to-me-i-cannot-live_2773855.jpg) ## More by Aidan Chambers > [We resent being faced with facts we'd prefer to ignore as much as being wrongly accused of doing something we haven't.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aidan-chambers/we-resent-being-faced-with-facts-we-d-prefer-to-ignore-as-much-as/) [Aidan Chambers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aidan-chambers/) > [“Readers are made by readers. ”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aidan-chambers/readers-are-made-by-readers/) [Aidan Chambers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aidan-chambers/) > [I will not compromise on language or content. At 15, people can handle the same language as me, they're just as complicated as me…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aidan-chambers/i-will-not-compromise-on-language-or-content-at-15-people-can-handle/) [Aidan Chambers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aidan-chambers/) > [“I don't know, I can't quite get it." "Don't try. It's just words." " Just words?" "Just words! We love them so much, you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aidan-chambers/i-don-t-know-i-can-t-quite-get-it-don-t-try-it-s-just-words-just/) [Aidan Chambers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aidan-chambers/) > [You become a reader by reading the literature, not by reading the handbooks about it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aidan-chambers/you-become-a-reader-by-reading-the-literature-not-by-reading-the/) [Aidan Chambers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aidan-chambers/) > [I huff and puff and struggle with every sentence, paragraph and page - sometimes every word as well.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aidan-chambers/i-huff-and-puff-and-struggle-with-every-sentence-paragraph-and-page/) [Aidan Chambers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aidan-chambers/) > [Life is not like a novel, but a novel can be like life. The best ones always are.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aidan-chambers/life-is-not-like-a-novel-but-a-novel-can-be-like-life-the-best-ones/) [Aidan Chambers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aidan-chambers/) > [History dies without the present. There is no future without the path made to it by the past.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aidan-chambers/history-dies-without-the-present-there-is-no-future-without-the-path/) [Aidan Chambers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aidan-chambers/) > [How do I think of you? As someone I want to be with. As someone as young as me, but "older," if that makes…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aidan-chambers/how-do-i-think-of-you-as-someone-i-want-to-be-with-as-someone-as/) [Aidan Chambers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aidan-chambers/) > [I thought how lovely and how strange a river is.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aidan-chambers/i-thought-how-lovely-and-how-strange-a-river-is/) [Aidan Chambers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aidan-chambers/) > [However much you love somebody, you should always keep a part of yourself to yourself. Never give it all. You can never be yourself…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aidan-chambers/however-much-you-love-somebody-you-should-always-keep-a-part-of/) [Aidan Chambers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aidan-chambers/) > [All the time I think I can never love you more than I already do. And then you do something or say something, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aidan-chambers/all-the-time-i-think-i-can-never-love-you-more-than-i-already-do-and/) [Aidan Chambers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aidan-chambers/) > [Is it better to go with the flow or let the flow go?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aidan-chambers/is-it-better-to-go-with-the-flow-or-let-the-flow-go/) [Aidan Chambers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aidan-chambers/) > [ “No, but still, the fact is, at least this is how it seems to me, everybody has to learn about it \[love\] from scratch… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aidan-chambers/no-but-still-the-fact-is-at-least-this-is-how-it-seems-to-me/) [Aidan Chambers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aidan-chambers/) > [Self pity is a disease which does not kill but corrodes.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aidan-chambers/self-pity-is-a-disease-which-does-not-kill-but-corrodes/) [Aidan Chambers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aidan-chambers/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "ItemList", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/books-essential/aidan-chambers/#itemlist", "name": "1 Books Essential Quotes By Aidan Chambers", "numberOfItems": 1, "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Books are essential to me. I cannot live without them, because I cannot live without reading. But, Arry has just said to me, you can always borrow them so why buy them? I don't buy books just to collect them. I'm not a collector. I'm not interested in them as objects that might be valuable one day, regardless of what they are about, nor do I want to own every book ever written by one particular author or on one particular subject. I buy them because I want to read them, and I keep them because I've read them. I can't afford to buy all the ones I'd like to, so I have to borrow quite a few, and this has taught me something about myself, which I haven't heard anyone else admit. When I've read a book which I really like, a book which MATTERS, I feel it belongs to me. I mean, the book itself, the copy I've read. It's as if I pour myself onto the pages as I read them, all my thoughts and emotions, so that by the time I've finished that copy holds inside it the essence of my reading. A borrowed book has to be returned, so I lose this essence of myself when I give it back. Besides which, a borrowed book has inside it something of everyone else who's read it. They've fingered it and pawed over it, breathed on it, done heaven knows what else as well as read it. And knowing this spoils my reading. The other readers get in my way. I can feel their presence on the cover and on the pages. They even make it smell differently from my own books. In fact, to my mind they've polluted the book and everything in it. 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