Alberto Manguel Quotes, born March 13, 1948, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, is an Argentine-Canadian writer, translator, essayist, and editor celebrated for his profound reflections on reading, libraries, and the power of stories. A former director of the National Library of Argentina, he has authored influential works like A History of Reading (1996), The Library at Night (2006), and A Reader on Reading (2010), weaving together literature, history, and personal experience. His global perspective, shaped by living in Argentina, Canada, and Europe, enriches his insights. These 15 quotes—sourced from his books, interviews, public statements, and posts on X—reflect his love for books, the act of reading, and their role in shaping humanity, capturing his eloquent and introspective voice.
15 Alberto Manguel Quotes
- “Maybe this is why we read, and why in moments of darkness we return to books: to find words for what we already know.” (A Reading Diary: A Passionate Reader’s Reflections on a Year of Books, 2004)
- “At one magical instant in your early childhood, the page of a book—that string of confused, alien ciphers—shivered into meaning. Words spoke to you, gave up their secrets; at that moment, whole universes opened. You became, irrevocably, a reader.” (A History of Reading, 1996)
- “Each book was a world unto itself, and in it I took refuge.” (A History of Reading, 1996)
- “Every reader exists to ensure for a certain book a modest immortality. Reading is, in this sense, a ritual of rebirth.” (The Library at Night, 2006)
- “I don’t remember ever feeling lonely; in fact, on the rare occasions when I met other children I found their games and their talk far less interesting than the adventures and dialogues I read in my books.” (A History of Reading, 1996)
- “To read is to fly: it is to soar to a point of vantage which gives a view over wide terrains of history, human variety, ideas, shared experience and the fruits of many inquiries.” (A Reader on Reading, 2010)
- “Books may not change our suffering, books may not protect us from evil, books may not tell us what is good or what is beautiful, and they will certainly not shield us from the common fate of the grave. But books grant us myriad possibilities: the possibility of change, the possibility of illumination.” (A History of Reading, 1996)
- “We read to understand, or to begin to understand. We cannot do but to read. Reading almost as much as breathing, is our essential function.” (The Last Page, 1986, p. 7)
- “In the light, we read the inventions of others; in the darkness we invent our own stories.” (The Library at Night, 2006)
- “I could perhaps live without writing. I don’t think I could live without reading.” (A History of Reading, 1996)
- “The telling of stories creates the real world.” (Statement, quoted in Contemporary Jewish-American Dramatists and Poets, 1999)
- “Libraries, whether my own or shared with a greater reading public, have always seemed to me pleasantly mad places, and for as long as I can remember I’ve been seduced by their labyrinthine logic.” (The Library at Night, 2006)
- “I quickly learned that reading is cumulative and proceeds by geometrical progression: each new reading builds upon whatever the reader has read before.” (A History of Reading, 1996)
- “The love of libraries, like most loves, must be learned.” (The Library at Night, 2006)
- “A society can exist—many do exist—without writing, but no society can exist without reading.” (The Last Page, 1986, p. 7)
Alberto Manguel’s quotes celebrate the transformative power of reading, the sanctuary of libraries, and the alchemy of stories, inspiring us to embrace books as companions in life’s journey. Which one ignites your love for the written word? Share it in the comments and keep Manguel’s literary legacy thriving!
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