--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: The greatest gift is the passion for…" description: "\"The greatest gift is the passion for reading. It is cheap, it consoles, it distracts, it excites, it gives you knowledge of the world and experience of..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f10/elizabeth-hardwick-10519_experience_the-greatest-gift-is-the-passion-for-rea_2274622.png" --- # The greatest gift is the passion for reading. It is cheap… ![“The greatest gift is the passion for reading. It is cheap, it consoles, it distracts, it excites, it gives you knowledge of the world and experience of a wide kind. It is a moral illumination.” quote by Elizabeth Hardwick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f10/elizabeth-hardwick-10519_experience_the-greatest-gift-is-the-passion-for-rea_2274622.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f10/elizabeth-hardwick-10519_experience_the-greatest-gift-is-the-passion-for-rea_2274622.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f10/elizabeth-hardwick-10519_experience_the-greatest-gift-is-the-passion-for-rea_2274622.png) > “The greatest gift is the passion for reading. It is cheap, it consoles, it distracts, it excites, it gives you knowledge of the world and experience of a wide kind. It is a moral illumination.” [Elizabeth Hardwick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-hardwick/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Reading offers affordable enrichment, comfort, distraction, excitement, knowledge, and moral insight **In simple terms:** Books are cheap, enlightening, and emotionally rewarding Key Takeaway Read regularly to expand mind and spirit Themes literature education morality Mood inspired reflective Type educational motivational When to use this quote - personal growth - teaching - mental health - cultural awareness Key Concepts knowledge acquisition emotional health ethical development Questions to Reflect On - What book changed your worldview? - How can reading become a daily habit? ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Experience](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/experience/) [Gift](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/gift/) [Greatest gift](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/greatest-gift/) [Knowledge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/knowledge/) [Passion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/passion/) [Reading](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/reading/) [Writer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writer/) ## Related quotes > [“The greatest gift is a passion for reading. It is cheap, it consoles, it distracts, it excites, it gives you knowledge of the world…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-hardwick/the-greatest-gift-is-a-passion-for-reading-it-is-cheap-it-consoles-it/) [Elizabeth Hardwick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-hardwick/) > [The greatest gift is a passion for reading.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-hardwick/the-greatest-gift-is-a-passion-for-reading/) [Elizabeth Hardwick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-hardwick/) > [“On my website there's a quote from the writer Anthony Burgess: "The greatest gift is the passion for reading. It is cheap, it consoles,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simon-cheshire/on-my-website-there-s-a-quote-from-the-writer-anthony-burgess-the/) [Simon Cheshire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simon-cheshire/) > [“Love is a gift. Passion is a curse”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alyson-noel/love-is-a-gift-passion-is-a-curse/) [Alyson Noel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alyson-noel/) > [“Life can't ever really defeat a writer who is in love with writing, for life itself is a writer's lover until death-- fascinating, cruel,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cara-swann/life-can-t-ever-really-defeat-a-writer-who-is-in-love-with-writing-2/) Cara Swann > [“God gave you the gift of passion so that you and your husband can experience intimate oneness. He also gave it to you so…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/linda-dillow/god-gave-you-the-gift-of-passion-so-that-you-and-your-husband-can/) [Linda Dillow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/linda-dillow/) > [We all have a gift; we all have a passion - it's just about finding it and going into it. Being an asset to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/angela-bassett/we-all-have-a-gift-we-all-have-a-passion-it-s-just-about-finding-it/) [Angela Bassett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/angela-bassett/) > [“Year 2026 is a year of anchoring, a time when chaos transforms into order and stability becomes the greatest gift.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-mako/year-2026-is-a-year-of-anchoring-a-time-when-chaos-transforms-into/) [Susan Mako](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-mako/) > [The greatest gift a person can give their children is love.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ali-bassam/the-greatest-gift-a-person-can-give-their-children-is-love/) [Ali Bassam](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ali-bassam/) > [The greatest gift you can ever give to yourself is 'Loving yourself the way you are'. Its a gift from you to you.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/collins-hasty/the-greatest-gift-you-can-ever-give-to-yourself-is-loving-yourself/) [Collins Hasty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/collins-hasty/) > [“The greatest gift you can open is your heart to someone in need.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matshona-dhliwayo/the-greatest-gift-you-can-open-is-your-heart-to-someone-in-need/) [Matshona Dhliwayo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matshona-dhliwayo/) > [It's one thing believing in yourself, it's another thing having other people believe in you, and that is the greatest gift, honestly.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/billy-magnussen/it-s-one-thing-believing-in-yourself-it-s-another-thing-having-other/) [Billy Magnussen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/billy-magnussen/) > [So when it comes don't push it away. One day you will find it is the greatest gift and I hope you don't take…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vivian-green/so-when-it-comes-don-t-push-it-away-one-day-you-will-find-it-is-the/) [Vivian Green](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vivian-green/) > [“The greatest gift you can bestow upon your children is your time and undivided attention.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jim-brozina/the-greatest-gift-you-can-bestow-upon-your-children-is-your-time-and/) Jim Brozina > [The greatest gift you can give to those around you is honesty. Sometimes honest words may sting the heart, but dishonesty pierces deep into…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nishan-panwar/the-greatest-gift-you-can-give-to-those-around-you-is-honesty/) [Nishan Panwar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nishan-panwar/) ## More by Elizabeth Hardwick > [“Leonard Woolf’s endurance of Virginia’s famous frigidity is, we must suppose after the fact, altogether to his credit. Their honeymoon did not bring the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-hardwick/leonard-woolf-s-endurance-of-virginia-s-famous-frigidity-is-we-must/) [Elizabeth Hardwick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-hardwick/) > [“The Brontë sisters have a renewed hold upon our imagination. They were gifted, well-educated, especially self-educated, and desperate. Their seriousness and poverty separated them…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-hardwick/the-bront-sisters-have-a-renewed-hold-upon-our-imagination-they-were/) [Elizabeth Hardwick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-hardwick/) > [Biographers, the quick in pursuit of the dead, research, organize, fill in, contradict, and make in this way a sort of completed picture puzzle…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-hardwick/biographers-the-quick-in-pursuit-of-the-dead-research-organize-fill/) [Elizabeth Hardwick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-hardwick/) > [Adversity is a great teacher, but this teacher makes us pay dearly for its instruction; and often the profit we derive, is not worth…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-hardwick/adversity-is-a-great-teacher-but-this-teacher-makes-us-pay-dearly-for/) [Elizabeth Hardwick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-hardwick/) > [I have come to the belief that there is not merely an accidental relationship between bad writing and routine sociological research, but a wonderfully…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-hardwick/i-have-come-to-the-belief-that-there-is-not-merely-an-accidental/) [Elizabeth Hardwick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-hardwick/) > [“The large, gaping flaws in the construction of the stories--mad wives in the attic, strange apparitions in Belgium--are a representation of the life she…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-hardwick/the-large-gaping-flaws-in-the-construction-of-the-stories-mad-wives/) [Elizabeth Hardwick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-hardwick/) > [The greatest gift is a passion for reading.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-hardwick/the-greatest-gift-is-a-passion-for-reading/) [Elizabeth Hardwick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-hardwick/) > [History ... with its long, leisurely, gentlemanly labors, the books arriving by post, the cards to be kept and filed, the sections to be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-hardwick/history-with-its-long-leisurely-gentlemanly-labors-the-books-arriving/) [Elizabeth Hardwick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-hardwick/) > [Sex, without society as its landscape, has never been of much interest to fiction.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-hardwick/sex-without-society-as-its-landscape-has-never-been-of-much-interest/) [Elizabeth Hardwick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-hardwick/) > [Self-love is an idolatry. Self-hatred is a tragedy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-hardwick/self-love-is-an-idolatry-self-hatred-is-a-tragedy/) [Elizabeth Hardwick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-hardwick/) > [“The greatest gift is a passion for reading. It is cheap, it consoles, it distracts, it excites, it gives you knowledge of the world…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-hardwick/the-greatest-gift-is-a-passion-for-reading-it-is-cheap-it-consoles-it/) [Elizabeth Hardwick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-hardwick/) > [Houses of evil similarity appeared like rows of disciplined, humiliated orphans.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-hardwick/houses-of-evil-similarity-appeared-like-rows-of-disciplined/) [Elizabeth Hardwick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-hardwick/) > [Gertrude Stein, all courage and will, is a soldier of minimalism. Her work, unlike the resonating silences in the art of Samuel Beckett, embodies…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-hardwick/gertrude-stein-all-courage-and-will-is-a-soldier-of-minimalism-her/) [Elizabeth Hardwick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-hardwick/) > [“In those years I did not care to enjoy sex, only to have it. That is what seeing Alex again on Fifth Avenue brought…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-hardwick/in-those-years-i-did-not-care-to-enjoy-sex-only-to-have-it-that-is/) [Elizabeth Hardwick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-hardwick/) > [The private and serious drama of guilt is not often a useful one for fiction today and its disappearance, following perhaps the disappearance from…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-hardwick/the-private-and-serious-drama-of-guilt-is-not-often-a-useful-one-for/) [Elizabeth Hardwick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-hardwick/) [Explore all 65 Elizabeth Hardwick quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-hardwick/) ## More Experience quotes > [Experience makes a lesson to us.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/experience-makes-a-lesson-to-us/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [The Derby experience had not been good for me and the way it finished left a very bad taste in my mouth so I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nigel-pearson/the-derby-experience-had-not-been-good-for-me-and-the-way-it-finished/) [Nigel Pearson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nigel-pearson/) > [Well, I've been politically involved for a really long time. Growing up in the segregated South, it was a very painful experience for me…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cybill-shepherd/well-i-ve-been-politically-involved-for-a-really-long-time-growing-up/) [Cybill Shepherd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cybill-shepherd/) > [From my experience of having served for 3000 days, I can say that anything can be achieved.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/narendra-modi/from-my-experience-of-having-served-for-3000-days-i-can-say-that/) [Narendra Modi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/narendra-modi/) > [My favorite job is the next one. Its such a gratifying experience getting to creatively keep trying something new and push things in a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roger-craig-smith/my-favorite-job-is-the-next-one-its-such-a-gratifying-experience/) [Roger Craig Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roger-craig-smith/) > [I happen to think it's the politics that makes you electable, but the reason for that is politicians sometimes talk about electability as if…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tony-blair/i-happen-to-think-it-s-the-politics-that-makes-you-electable-but-the/) [Tony Blair](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tony-blair/) > [Iranians hate Arabs. They're a fairly well-educated population and they have centuries of experience with self-government.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-ledeen/iranians-hate-arabs-they-re-a-fairly-well-educated-population-and/) [Michael Ledeen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-ledeen/) > [Education is a lifelong experience. Experience is a lifelong education. Education plus experience equals expertise.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-bugeja/education-is-a-lifelong-experience-experience-is-a-lifelong-education/) Michael Bugeja > [Prison experience puts distance between me and any person who hasn't been there, done that.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/patricia-mcconnell/prison-experience-puts-distance-between-me-and-any-person-who-hasn-t/) [Patricia McConnell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/patricia-mcconnell/) > [Experience is a thorough teacher.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-jane-holmes/experience-is-a-thorough-teacher/) [Mary Jane Holmes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-jane-holmes/) > [It definitely helps to have the acting experience going into singing, because when you're singing, you have to portray the emotion you were feeling…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ryan-newman/it-definitely-helps-to-have-the-acting-experience-going-into-singing/) Ryan Newman > [I have no physical genius about me. I can't dribble a ball and run at the same time, I can't do lay-ups - I'm…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rich-mullins/i-have-no-physical-genius-about-me-i-can-t-dribble-a-ball-and-run-at/) [Rich Mullins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rich-mullins/) > [I've had a great experience with pretty much everybody I've worked with.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mia-wasikowska/i-ve-had-a-great-experience-with-pretty-much-everybody-i-ve-worked/) [Mia Wasikowska](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mia-wasikowska/) > [It wasn't a mistake, it was a fun learning experience.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/it-wasn-t-a-mistake-it-was-a-fun-learning-experience/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [I worked a lot in Chicago's theater scene as a fight choreographer. And so I do have a lot of experience in stage combat…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nick-offerman/i-worked-a-lot-in-chicago-s-theater-scene-as-a-fight-choreographer/) [Nick Offerman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nick-offerman/) [Browse all 11,792 Experience quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/experience/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "The greatest gift is the passion for reading. It is cheap, it consoles, it distracts, it excites, it gives you knowledge of the world and experience of a wide kind. 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