--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Reading wasn't my religion - it was my…" description: "\"Reading wasn't my religion - it was my oxygen.\" — Linda Grant" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a73/linda-grant-20628_oxygen_reading-wasn-t-my-religion-it-was-my-oxy_3199407.jpg" --- # Reading wasn't my religion - it was my oxygen. ![“Reading wasn't my religion - it was my oxygen.” quote by Linda Grant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a73/linda-grant-20628_oxygen_reading-wasn-t-my-religion-it-was-my-oxy_3199407.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a73/linda-grant-20628_oxygen_reading-wasn-t-my-religion-it-was-my-oxy_3199407.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a73/linda-grant-20628_oxygen_reading-wasn-t-my-religion-it-was-my-oxy_3199407.jpg) > “Reading wasn't my religion - it was my oxygen.” [Linda Grant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/linda-grant/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Reading is essential for intellectual and emotional sustenance, akin to a life‑supporting gas. **In simple terms:** Reading is as vital as oxygen. Key Takeaway Read daily for mental health. Themes literature health vitality Mood reflective inspirational Type literary motivational When to use this quote - personal growth - stress relief - education - creative inspiration Key Concepts cognitive development emotional resilience Questions to Reflect On - What book has been your emotional lifeline? - How can societies promote reading as a basic need? A Different Perspective Not everyone has equal access to books or time to read. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Oxygen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/oxygen/) [Reading](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/reading/) [Religion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/religion/) [Writer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writer/) ## Related quotes > [“This wasn’t about religion, or who subscribed to which worldview, or who did or didn’t have faith. It was about friendship.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steve-ghikadis/this-wasn-t-about-religion-or-who-subscribed-to-which-worldview-or/) [Steve Ghikadis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steve-ghikadis/) > [I'm not an angel. Infact, if it wasn't for religion, I'd probably be a criminal.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/meagan-b/i-m-not-an-angel-infact-if-it-wasn-t-for-religion-i-d-probably-be-a/) [Meagan B](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/meagan-b/) > [Television was restricted by my parents. They encouraged reading more than anything. It wasn't done in a let's-get-educated kind of way, it was: 'This…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vic-reeves/television-was-restricted-by-my-parents-they-encouraged-reading-more/) [Vic Reeves](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vic-reeves/) > [I grew up in this household where reading was the most noble thing you could do. When I was a teenager, we would have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/keith-gessen/i-grew-up-in-this-household-where-reading-was-the-most-noble-thing/) [Keith Gessen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/keith-gessen/) > [“There are all sorts of other things, investigations into silent movies and TV serials (I pulled the file on “Quatermass” for shits and giggles—strictly…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-stross/there-are-all-sorts-of-other-things-investigations-into-silent-movies/) [Charles Stross](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-stross/) > [“I lay in bed reading. I wasn't enjoying the book, but it's a habit with me, once I start, to read to the end.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marco-douka-fool-s-gold/i-lay-in-bed-reading-i-wasn-t-enjoying-the-book-but-it-s-a-habit-with/) Marco Douka Fool's Gold > [I always read a lot as a kid and I'd spend long periods of time in my room reading... I wasn't reading anything great…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-riedel/i-always-read-a-lot-as-a-kid-and-i-d-spend-long-periods-of-time-in-my/) [Michael Riedel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-riedel/) > [“Reading wasn't an attempt to educate myself. It was my chief escape from a world that, although gorgeous in landscape and rich with mountain…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chris-offutt/reading-wasn-t-an-attempt-to-educate-myself-it-was-my-chief-escape/) [Chris Offutt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chris-offutt/) > [Negative people need drama like oxygen. Stay positive, it'll take their breath away.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/negative-people-need-drama-like-oxygen-stay-positive-it-ll-take-their/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Plant trees. They give us two of the most crucial elements for our survival: oxygen and books.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/plant-trees-they-give-us-two-of-the-most-crucial-elements-for-our/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [If you don't participate, you're just taking up oxygen. (Bunny) Life is a banquet. Approach it with hunger. (Chuck)](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/deb-caletti/if-you-don-t-participate-you-re-just-taking-up-oxygen-bunny-life-is-a/) [Deb Caletti](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/deb-caletti/) > [Myocardial oxygen consumption is determined by the work of the heart and is a function of arterial blood pressure and heart rate.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-black/myocardial-oxygen-consumption-is-determined-by-the-work-of-the-heart/) [James Black](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-black/) > [I hit Damian Fuller with a left hook that left him laid out for 30-45 minutes. They brought oxygen to him, they couldn't wake…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/diego-corrales/i-hit-damian-fuller-with-a-left-hook-that-left-him-laid-out-for-30-45/) [Diego Corrales](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/diego-corrales/) > [I am not a Ph.D. in economics or a doctorate in literature that I can afford to take my singing lightly. Even if I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kailash-kher/i-am-not-a-ph-d-in-economics-or-a-doctorate-in-literature-that-i-can/) [Kailash Kher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kailash-kher/) > [The supposedly immaterial soul, we now know, can be bisected with a knife, altered by chemicals, started or stopped by electricity, and extinguished by…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-pinker/the-supposedly-immaterial-soul-we-now-know-can-be-bisected-with-a/) [Steven Pinker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-pinker/) ## More by Linda Grant > [Many of us, whether in the jungles of Asia or on the streets of Chicago, had discovered that noble causes can lead to ignoble…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/linda-grant/many-of-us-whether-in-the-jungles-of-asia-or-on-the-streets-of/) [Linda Grant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/linda-grant/) > [“Lord Malquist and Mr Moon was the literary equivalent of the Wonderbra for intellectually pretentious students of the seventies.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/linda-grant/lord-malquist-and-mr-moon-was-the-literary-equivalent-of-the/) [Linda Grant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/linda-grant/) > [I was embarrassed by my parents. I thought they had nothing of interest to say or contribute to anything. My real crime was not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/linda-grant/i-was-embarrassed-by-my-parents-i-thought-they-had-nothing-of/) [Linda Grant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/linda-grant/) > [“I was the girl whose face fell when she saw a wrapped present in the shape of a box, perhaps a jigsaw puzzle. Worst…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/linda-grant/i-was-the-girl-whose-face-fell-when-she-saw-a-wrapped-present-in-the/) [Linda Grant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/linda-grant/) > [It's not the punch you expect that knocks you down.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/linda-grant/it-s-not-the-punch-you-expect-that-knocks-you-down/) [Linda Grant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/linda-grant/) > [“She had been maimed by an illness that was so far out of fashion it might have been a wartime recipe for pink blancmange…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/linda-grant/she-had-been-maimed-by-an-illness-that-was-so-far-out-of-fashion-it/) [Linda Grant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/linda-grant/) > [“You cannot have a taste for minimalist décor if you seriously read books.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/linda-grant/you-cannot-have-a-taste-for-minimalist-d-cor-if-you-seriously-read/) [Linda Grant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/linda-grant/) > [“Clothes as text, clothes as narration, clothes as a story. Clothes as the story of our lives. And if you were to gather all…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/linda-grant/clothes-as-text-clothes-as-narration-clothes-as-a-story-clothes-as/) [Linda Grant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/linda-grant/) > [There is probably no finer prose writer alive in Britain now, no-one better at making a sentence, no-one better at descriptive writing, no-one who…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/linda-grant/there-is-probably-no-finer-prose-writer-alive-in-britain-now-no-one/) [Linda Grant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/linda-grant/) > [“And your neihjbour is sitting next door weeping as she watches her child facing a crowd of Palestiniankids armed with rocks which could take…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/linda-grant/and-your-neihjbour-is-sitting-next-door-weeping-as-she-watches-her/) [Linda Grant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/linda-grant/) > [When I was a child, on Sunday mornings the family would assemble around the blue-leather-covered gramophone to listen to records.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/linda-grant/when-i-was-a-child-on-sunday-mornings-the-family-would-assemble/) [Linda Grant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/linda-grant/) > [Revenge is so much more satisfying than regret.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/linda-grant/revenge-is-so-much-more-satisfying-than-regret/) [Linda Grant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/linda-grant/) > [“How can life end in the middle of the story? Because life always does.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/linda-grant/how-can-life-end-in-the-middle-of-the-story-because-life-always-does/) [Linda Grant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/linda-grant/) > [I am not by any stretch of the imagination a tidy person, and the piles of unread books on the coffee table and by…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/linda-grant/i-am-not-by-any-stretch-of-the-imagination-a-tidy-person-and-the/) [Linda Grant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/linda-grant/) > [I'm not shy, not reclusive, not any of those things, but the idea of a day in front of me when I have nothing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/linda-grant/i-m-not-shy-not-reclusive-not-any-of-those-things-but-the-idea-of-a/) [Linda Grant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/linda-grant/) [Explore all 30 Linda Grant quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/linda-grant/) ## More Oxygen quotes > [The supposedly immaterial soul, we now know, can be bisected with a knife, altered by chemicals, started or stopped by electricity, and extinguished by…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-pinker/the-supposedly-immaterial-soul-we-now-know-can-be-bisected-with-a/) [Steven Pinker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-pinker/) > [I am not a Ph.D. in economics or a doctorate in literature that I can afford to take my singing lightly. Even if I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kailash-kher/i-am-not-a-ph-d-in-economics-or-a-doctorate-in-literature-that-i-can/) [Kailash Kher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kailash-kher/) > [I hit Damian Fuller with a left hook that left him laid out for 30-45 minutes. They brought oxygen to him, they couldn't wake…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/diego-corrales/i-hit-damian-fuller-with-a-left-hook-that-left-him-laid-out-for-30-45/) [Diego Corrales](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/diego-corrales/) > [Myocardial oxygen consumption is determined by the work of the heart and is a function of arterial blood pressure and heart rate.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-black/myocardial-oxygen-consumption-is-determined-by-the-work-of-the-heart/) [James Black](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-black/) > [If you don't participate, you're just taking up oxygen. (Bunny) Life is a banquet. Approach it with hunger. (Chuck)](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/deb-caletti/if-you-don-t-participate-you-re-just-taking-up-oxygen-bunny-life-is-a/) [Deb Caletti](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/deb-caletti/) > [Plant trees. They give us two of the most crucial elements for our survival: oxygen and books.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/plant-trees-they-give-us-two-of-the-most-crucial-elements-for-our/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Negative people need drama like oxygen. Stay positive, it'll take their breath away.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/negative-people-need-drama-like-oxygen-stay-positive-it-ll-take-their/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [I feel as though I'm not breathing when I'm out of his presence. He's the oxygen in my air, the sun in my universe,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/madeleine-l-engle/i-feel-as-though-i-m-not-breathing-when-i-m-out-of-his-presence-he-s/) [Madeleine L'Engle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/madeleine-l-engle/) > [I pulled the oxygen tubes from my nostrils and raised the tube up over my head, handing it to Dad. I wanted it to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-green/i-pulled-the-oxygen-tubes-from-my-nostrils-and-raised-the-tube-up/) [John Green](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-green/) > [...The large majority of those infectious microbes that cause us so much illness and pain are ANAEROBIC...a big word that means they live and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ed-mccabe/the-large-majority-of-those-infectious-microbes-that-cause-us-so-much/) [Ed McCabe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ed-mccabe/) > [We are at the moment looking at space as something to be entered by the tremendous thrust of a rocket because that is the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-watts/we-are-at-the-moment-looking-at-space-as-something-to-be-entered-by/) [Alan Watts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-watts/) > [I will garden on the double run, my rhythm obvious in the ringing rakes, and trust in fate to keep me poor and kind…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-hugo/i-will-garden-on-the-double-run-my-rhythm-obvious-in-the-ringing/) [Richard Hugo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-hugo/) > [The higher you go in a company, the less oxygen there is, so supporting intelligent life becomes difficult.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/guy-kawasaki/the-higher-you-go-in-a-company-the-less-oxygen-there-is-so-supporting/) [Guy Kawasaki](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/guy-kawasaki/) > [Usage is like oxygen for ideas. That means every moment you're working on something without it being in the public it's actually dying, deprived…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matt-mullenweg/usage-is-like-oxygen-for-ideas-that-means-every-moment-you-re-working/) [Matt Mullenweg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matt-mullenweg/) > [Democrats who see virtue in the estate tax are doing the equivalent of aborting future enterprises. They deprive businesses of oxygen with their support…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amity-shlaes/democrats-who-see-virtue-in-the-estate-tax-are-doing-the-equivalent/) [Amity Shlaes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amity-shlaes/) [Browse all 506 Oxygen quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/oxygen/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Reading wasn't my religion - it was my oxygen.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Linda Grant" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/linda-grant/reading-wasn-t-my-religion-it-was-my-oxygen/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Oxygen" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/linda-grant/reading-wasn-t-my-religion-it-was-my-oxygen/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a73/linda-grant-20628_oxygen_reading-wasn-t-my-religion-it-was-my-oxy_3199407.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a73/linda-grant-20628_oxygen_reading-wasn-t-my-religion-it-was-my-oxy_3199407.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a73/linda-grant-20628_oxygen_reading-wasn-t-my-religion-it-was-my-oxy_3199407.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Reading wasn't my religion - it was my oxygen.” — Linda Grant", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Linda Grant", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/linda-grant/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Reading wasn't my religion - it...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/linda-grant/reading-wasn-t-my-religion-it-was-my-oxygen/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/linda-grant/reading-wasn-t-my-religion-it-was-my-oxygen/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```