--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: I suppose that it was inevitable that my…" description: "\"I suppose that it was inevitable that my word-base broadened. I could now for the first time pick up a book and read and now begin to understand what t..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f9a/alex-haley-8212_book_i-suppose-that-it-was-inevitable-that-my_984591.jpg" --- # I suppose that it was inevitable that my word-base… ![“I suppose that it was inevitable that my word-base broadened. I could now for the first time pick up a book and read and now begin to understand what the book was saying. Anyone who has read a great deal can imagine the new world that opened. Let me tell you something: from then until I left that…” quote by Alex Haley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f9a/alex-haley-8212_book_i-suppose-that-it-was-inevitable-that-my_984591.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f9a/alex-haley-8212_book_i-suppose-that-it-was-inevitable-that-my_984591.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f9a/alex-haley-8212_book_i-suppose-that-it-was-inevitable-that-my_984591.jpg) > “I suppose that it was inevitable that my word-base broadened. I could now for the first time pick up a book and read and now begin to understand what the book was saying. Anyone who has read a great deal can imagine the new world that opened. Let me tell you something: from then until I left that prison, in every free moment I had, if I was not reading in the library, I was reading in my bunk. You couldn’t have gotten me out of my books with a wedge...Months passed without my even thinking about being imprisoned. In fact, up to then, I never had been so truly free in my life.” [Alex Haley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alex-haley/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Reading became a gateway to mental freedom, expanding his worldview despite physical confinement. **In simple terms:** Books opened his mind and gave him a sense of liberty. Key Takeaway Seek knowledge to transcend circumstances. Themes freedom learning transformation Mood reflective hopeful Type personal inspirational When to use this quote - prison life - personal growth - self‑study - intellectual curiosity Key Concepts self‑education escape mental liberation Questions to Reflect On - How can literature reshape one's perception of confinement? - What role does self‑education play in personal liberty? A Different Perspective Reading alone may not change external conditions. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Book](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/book/) [Book Saying](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/book-saying-1066233/) [Books](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/books/) [Bunk](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bunk/) [Deals](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/deals/) [Facts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/facts/) [First time](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/first-time/) [Firsts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/firsts/) [Imagine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/imagine/) [Inevitable](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/inevitable/) [Left Prison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/left-prison-718727/) [Let me](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/let-me/) [Library](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/library/) [Moment Reading](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/moment-reading-1976121/) [Moments](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/moments/) [Months](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/months/) [Prison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/prison/) [Reading](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/reading/) [Reading Bunk](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/reading-bunk-1976120/) [Thinking](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/thinking/) [Thinking Imprisoned](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/thinking-imprisoned-1976119/) [Time](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/time/) [Wedges](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/wedges/) [World](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/world/) ## Related quotes > [Ten guards and the warden couldn't have torn me out of those books. 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The fuck did I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/that-moment-when-you-are-reading-your-mind-wanders-off-and-you-have/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [And I did wonder - because it's now three years ago since I left prison - whether there would come a time when I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeffrey-archer/and-i-did-wonder-because-it-s-now-three-years-ago-since-i-left-prison/) [Jeffrey Archer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeffrey-archer/) > [“Some people pick up on one part of what you say, twist it, and go off into excess and error and create confusion in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenneth-e-hagin-2/some-people-pick-up-on-one-part-of-what-you-say-twist-it-and-go-off/) [Kenneth E Hagin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenneth-e-hagin-2/) > [Kids at her school will sidle up to me and say, 'Does Jessica know what happens in book 4? Does Jessica know the title…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/j-k-rowling-3/kids-at-her-school-will-sidle-up-to-me-and-say-does-jessica-know-what/) [J K Rowling](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/j-k-rowling-3/) ## More by Alex Haley > [I tell younger writers that indeed it is devastating to be rejected. You feel like the bottom dropped out of your world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alex-haley/i-tell-younger-writers-that-indeed-it-is-devastating-to-be-rejected/) [Alex Haley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alex-haley/) > [If you're blessed to do something like 'Roots'... you find yourself immersed. 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But the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alex-haley/i-know-juffure-was-a-british-trading-post-and-my-portrait-of-the/) [Alex Haley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alex-haley/) > [I look at my books the way parents look at their children. The fact that one becomes more successful than the others doesn't make…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alex-haley/i-look-at-my-books-the-way-parents-look-at-their-children-the-fact/) [Alex Haley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alex-haley/) > [Never completely encircle your enemy. Leave him some escape, for he will fight even more desperately if trapped.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alex-haley/never-completely-encircle-your-enemy-leave-him-some-escape-for-he/) [Alex Haley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alex-haley/) > [I can't feel Irish to save my soul, but it's a fact.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alex-haley/i-can-t-feel-irish-to-save-my-soul-but-it-s-a-fact/) [Alex Haley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alex-haley/) > [Most of the people I've met who are black in other countries look up to the blacks in this country. Though they may talk…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alex-haley/most-of-the-people-i-ve-met-who-are-black-in-other-countries-look-up/) [Alex Haley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alex-haley/) > [Early in the spring of 1750, in the village of Juffure, four days upriver from the coast of The Gambia, West Africa, a manchild…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alex-haley/early-in-the-spring-of-1750-in-the-village-of-juffure-four-days/) [Alex Haley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alex-haley/) > [“nightly boiling and then cooling a broth of freshly pounded fudano leaves in which she soaked her feat -and the pale palms of her…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alex-haley/nightly-boiling-and-then-cooling-a-broth-of-freshly-pounded-fudano/) [Alex Haley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alex-haley/) > [In all of us there is a hunger, marrow-deep, to know our heritage, to know who we are and where we came from.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alex-haley/in-all-of-us-there-is-a-hunger-marrow-deep-to-know-our-heritage-to/) [Alex Haley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alex-haley/) > [If you think about it, there's not a religious group, there's not a nationalistic group, there's not a tribe, there is no grouping of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alex-haley/if-you-think-about-it-there-s-not-a-religious-group-there-s-not-a/) [Alex Haley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alex-haley/) > [Is this how you repay my goodness--with badness?” cried the boy. “Of course,” said the crocodile out of the corner of his mouth. “That…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alex-haley/is-this-how-you-repay-my-goodness-with-badness-cried-the-boy-of/) [Alex Haley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alex-haley/) [Explore all 83 Alex Haley quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alex-haley/) ## More Book quotes > [I think a new world will arise out of the religious mists when we approach our Bible with the idea that it is not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aiden-wilson-tozer/i-think-a-new-world-will-arise-out-of-the-religious-mists-when-we/) [Aiden Wilson Tozer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aiden-wilson-tozer/) > [If I had a dollar for every time I couldn’t sleep, I could buy a billion locks and finally read a book in peace.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aesop-rock/if-i-had-a-dollar-for-every-time-i-couldn-t-sleep-i-could-buy-a/) [Aesop Rock](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aesop-rock/) > [Young men, especially in America, write to me and ask me to recommend “a course of reading.” Distrust a course of reading! People who…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-lang/young-men-especially-in-america-write-to-me-and-ask-me-to-recommend-a/) [Andrew Lang](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-lang/) > [The Rosary is the book of the blind.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fulton-j-sheen/the-rosary-is-the-book-of-the-blind/) [Fulton J. Sheen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fulton-j-sheen/) > [I have many who keep me going, I am very fortunate in this sense. There is nothing like a child who knows more about…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/floyd-cooper/i-have-many-who-keep-me-going-i-am-very-fortunate-in-this-sense-there/) [Floyd Cooper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/floyd-cooper/) > [I think books in which people are really happy and things are going well are probably the most challenging novels there are to write,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-quindlen/i-think-books-in-which-people-are-really-happy-and-things-are-going/) [Anna Quindlen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-quindlen/) > [It's like the query letter problem that I just mentioned, magnified a hundredfold. You might be good at telling a story, but that doesn't…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/patrick-rothfuss/it-s-like-the-query-letter-problem-that-i-just-mentioned-magnified-a/) [Patrick Rothfuss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/patrick-rothfuss/) > [I don't think I have made as much of my life as I should have. 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It takes thought and research and a backache and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neil-gaiman/people-talk-about-books-that-write-themselves-and-it-s-a-lie-books/) [Neil Gaiman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neil-gaiman/) > [There are great books in this world and great worlds in books.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-bronte/there-are-great-books-in-this-world-and-great-worlds-in-books/) [Anne Bronte](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-bronte/) > [The purpose of this book is to supply, in the form suitable for laymen, guidance in the adoption and execution of an investment policy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/benjamin-graham/the-purpose-of-this-book-is-to-supply-in-the-form-suitable-for-laymen/) [Benjamin Graham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/benjamin-graham/) > [But I think that of all the literature that I studied, the book that did more than any other to fire my enthusiasm was…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kwame-nkrumah/but-i-think-that-of-all-the-literature-that-i-studied-the-book-that/) [Kwame Nkrumah](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kwame-nkrumah/) > [It's amazing to see things that are suggested in the book fully developed and so brilliantly realized through the artistry of the designers.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/suzanne-collins/it-s-amazing-to-see-things-that-are-suggested-in-the-book-fully/) [Suzanne Collins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/suzanne-collins/) > [“But I’ve developed a great reputation for wisdom by ordering more books than I ever had time to read, and reading more books, by…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marilynne-robinson/but-i-ve-developed-a-great-reputation-for-wisdom-by-ordering-more/) [Marilynne Robinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marilynne-robinson/) [Browse all 29,378 Book quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/book/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "I suppose that it was inevitable that my word-base broadened. I could now for the first time pick up a book and read and now begin to understand what the book was saying. Anyone who has read a great deal can imagine the new world that opened. Let me tell you something: from then until I left that prison, in every free moment I had, if I was not reading in the library, I was reading in my bunk. You couldn’t have gotten me out of my books with a wedge...Months passed without my even thinking about being imprisoned. 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