"Some readers read a book as if it were an instruction manual, expecting to understand everything first time, but of course when you write, you put into every sentence an overflow of meaning, and you create in every sentence as many resonances and double meanings and ambiguities as you can possibly pack in there, so that people can read it again and get something new each time."

Reading, Writing, Meaning, Interpretation

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"Some readers read a book as if it were an instruction manual, expecting to understand everything first time, but of course when you write, you put into every sentence an overflow of meaning, and you create in every sentence as many resonances and double meanings and ambiguities as you can possibly pack in there, so that people can read it again and get something new each time."

Exlpore more Reading quotes

"A book you finish reading is not the same book it was before you read it."

David Mitchell, British Novelist

Reading, Books, Change, Perspective

"If someone wrote it and it had a peculiar twist, I've read it."

Dean Koontz, American Author

Reading, Read

"Reading is thinking with someone else's head instead of ones own."

Arthur Schopenhauer, German Philosopher

Reading, Thinking, Perspective, Learning

"A woman reading Playboy feels a little like a Jew reading a Nazi manual."

Gloria Steinem, American Activist

Reading, Woman

"You can read Kant by yourself, if you wanted to; but you must share a joke with someone else."

Robert Louis Stevenson, Scottish Writer

Reading, Read

"The love of books is among the choicest gifts of the gods."

Arthur Conan Doyle, British Writer

Reading, Books, Love, Gift, Knowledge

"By reading the writings of the most interesting minds in history, we meditate with our own minds and theirs as well. This is to me is a miracle."

Kurt Vonnegut, American Author

Reading, History, Thought, Reflection

"Read. Read anything. Read the things they say are good for you, and the things they claim are junk. You'll find what you need to find. Just read."

Neil Gaiman, British Author

Reading, Learning, Discovery, Truth

"A young man who wishes to remain a sound atheist cannot be too careful of his reading."

C. S. Lewis, British Author

Reading, Man, Sound, Wishes

"Readers of fiction read, I think, for a deeper embrace of the world, of reality. And that's brave. I never get over being thankful for that - for the courage of my readers."

Barbara Kingsolver, American Novelist

Reading, Reality, Imagination, Courage

Explore more quotes by Hilary Mantel

"To his inner ear, the cardinal speaks. He says, I saw you, Crumb, when you were at Elvetham: scratching your balls in the dawn and wondering at the violence of the king's whims. If he wants a new wife, fix him one. I didn't, and I am dead."

Conscience

"I said to my mother, Henry VII is interesting. No he's not, my mother said."

History

"The world moves on so fast, and we lose all chance of being the women our mothers were; we lose all understanding of what shaped them."

Identity

"Men say," Liz reaches for her scissors, "'I can't endure it when women cry'--just as people say, 'I can't endure this wet weather.' As if it were nothing to do with the men at all, the crying. Just one of those things that happen."

Emotion

"You learn nothing about men by snubbing them and crushing their pride. You must ask them what it is they can do in this world, that they alone can do."

Insight

"Give me a book, she said. "A book of sermons, anything."What do you want a book for?"I want words. I've got to have more words. I was kept stupid on purpose."

Knowledge

"Your fear is, that if you marry AdA le, you will love her. If you have children, you will love them more than anything else in the world, more than patriotism, more than democracy. If your children grow up, and prove traitors to the people, will you be able to demand their deaths, as the Romans did? Perhaps you will, but perhaps you will not be able to do it. You're afraid that if you love people you may be deflected from your duty, but it's because of another kind of love, isn't it, that the duty is laid upon you?"

Duty

"And if a diversion is needed, why not arrest a general? Arthur Dillon is a friend of eminent deputies, a contender for the post of Commander-in-Chief of the Northern Front; he has proved himself at Valmy and in a halfdozen actions since. In the National Assembly he was a liberal; now he is a republican. Isn't it then logical that he should be thrown into gaol, July 1, on suspicion of passing military secrets to the enemy?"

Manipulation

"Cardinal Campeggio has implored Katherine to bow to the king's will, accept that her marriage is invalid and retire to a convent. Certainly, she says sweetly, she will become a nun: if the king will become a monk."

Defiance

"Innocence is a bleeding wound without a bandage, a wound that opens with every casual knock from casual passers-by. Experience is an armour."

Innocence