Books. They allow us to step out of our own shoes and into somebody else’s. They have the power to shape ideas and create movements. They teach us things we couldn’t learn otherwise. But not everyone has the opportunity to access them.

Unfortunately, an estimated 750 million youth and adults around the world cannot read and write, and around 250 million children don’t have basic literacy skills. This results in fewer opportunities, lower earning potentials, and greater health risks.

To honor the power of books and bring down barriers to literacy, we rounded up 10 quotes from authors around the world for you to share on World Book Day:

1.“That’s the thing about books. They let you travel without moving your feet.”

— Jhumpa Lahiri


2. “’One must always be careful of books,’ said Tessa, ‘and what is inside them, for words have the power to change us.’”

― Cassandra Clare, Clockwork Angel


3. “A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies.”

― George R.R. Martin


4. “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, Coraline

5. “If you only read the books that everyone else is reading, you can only think what everyone else is thinking.”

― Haruki Murakami, Norwegian Wood

6. “She read books as one would breathe air, to fill up and live.”

-Annie Dillard

“There is no friend as loyal as a book.”

― Ernest Hemingway

7. “If there’s a book that you want to read, but it hasn’t been written yet, then you must write it.”

― Toni Morrison

9. “Books are a uniquely portable magic.”

― Stephen King

10. “Let us remember: One book, one pen, one child, and one teacher can change the world.”

― Malala Yousafzai

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