The act of reading is one that humans have loved and lived for centuries. Whether it be academic or for fun, reading is proven to expand the mind both physically and emotionally. Anyone who has ever loved to read knows the true magic that comes with opening a book.

However, if you are someone who has fallen off the wagon with reading, or has just never really found the appeal of it, these quotes should help you gain the courage and determination to open up your next book and see what adventure awaits.

And if you're like me, and love reading more than anything, then maybe these quotes will remind you why and help you put your feelings into words.

1. "A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies . . . The man who never reads lives only one.”

-George R.R. Martin

2. “In the case of good books, the point is not to see how many of them you can get through, but rather how many can get through to you.”

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-Mortimer J. Adler

3. “If you don’t like to read, you haven’t found the right book.”

-J.K. Rowling

4. "Reading is an act of civilization; it’s one of the greatest acts of civilization because it takes the free raw material of the mind and builds castles of possibilities."

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-Ben Okri

5. "Until I feared I would lose it, I never loved to read. One does not love breathing."

-Harper Lee

6. “Keep reading. It’s one of the most marvelous adventures that anyone can have.”

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-Lloyd Alexander

7. “I’m old-fashioned and think that reading books is the most glorious pastime that humankind has yet devised."

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-Wisława Szymborska

8. "We read to know that we are not alone."

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-C.S. Lewis

9. “A writer only begins a book. A reader finishes it.”

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-Samuel Johnson

10. "Books are a uniquely portable magic."

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-Stephen King

11. "Reading is a conversation. All books talk. But a good book listens as well."

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-Mark Haddon

12. "A book is a dream that you hold in your hand."

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-Neil Gaiman

13. "Reading can seriously damage your ignorance."

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-Unknown

14. "“You think your pain and your heartbreak are unprecedented in the history of the world, but then you read. It was books that taught me that the things that tormented me most were the very things that connected me with all the people who were alive, who had ever been alive.”

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-James Baldwin

15. "Books make people quiet, yet they are so loud.”

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-Nnedi Okorafor

16. "I owe everything I am and everything I will be to books."

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-Gary Paulsen

17. “If you stop to think about it, you’ll have to admit that all the stories in the world consist essentially of twenty-six letters. The letters are always the same, only the arrangement varies. From letters words are formed, from words sentences, from sentences chapters, and from chapters stories.”

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-Michael Ende

18. "There is more treasure in books than in all the pirate's loot on Treasure Island."

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-Walt Disney

19. “One glance at a book and you hear the voice of another person, perhaps someone dead for 1,000 years. To read is to voyage through time.”

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-Carl Sagan

20. “Fairy tales are more than true: not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten.”

-Neil Gaiman (also my favorite quote of all time)

21. "You can't buy happiness, but you can buy books and that's kind of the same thing."

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-Unknown

You can find quotes about reading and books within and without your favorite books, these are just a few of the many quotes that I found. From poets to scholars to children to authors to mathematicians, the joy of reading is not lost on many.

So put your phone away, leave your homework to the side for a second, and get lost between the covers of your next favorite book.

(I know that you can read because you read this whole article, so what's stopping you? Go! Have an adventure!)