Daniel Pennac Quotations

Once a book falls into our possession, it is ours, the same way children lay their claim: 'That's my book.' As if it were organically part of them. That must be why we have so much trouble returning borrowed books. It's not exactly theft (of course not, we're not thieves, what are you implying?); it's simply a slippage in ownership or, better still, a transfer of substance. That which belonged to someone else becomes mine when I look at it. And if I like what I read, naturally I'll have difficulty giving it back.

We keep quiet about what we read. Our enjoyment of a book remains a jealously guarded secret. Perhaps because there`s no need to talk, or because it takes time to distill what we've read before we can say anything. Silence is our guarantee of intimacy. We might have finished reading but we`re still living the book.

If you`re wondering how you`ll find time, it means you don`t really want to read. Because nobody`s ever got time. Children certainly haven`t, nor have teenagers or grown-ups. Life always gets in the way. <...> Time to read is always time stolen. <...> Stolen from what? From the tyranny of living.”- p.125

I have never experienced a sorrow that was not relieved by an hour of reading.

Each country thinks its school is in a specific crisis, without ever linking the school's crisis to that of the society around it.

The teacher is commodified, the school is a shop, the subjects are consumer goods. To read, to think, to reflect, isn't a question of want, it's a question of need.

All it takes is one teacher - just one - to save us from ourselves and make us forget all the others.

I master my doubts now. I have fun with them, they're my travelling companions.

When you buy a jacket, it’s important the pockets are big enough for a paperback!

I've never had time to read. But no one ever kept me from finishing a novel I loved.