10 Quotes About Tsundoku

tsundoku is the Japanese word for “accumulated reading”. These are the types of books that end up taking over your shelves and filling your bags with random books. There is nothing wrong with tsundoku, but it can be a bit overwhelming, especially if you’re like me and you’ve got a habit of buying multiple copies of the same book. I thought it would be helpful to share some of my favorite tsundoku quotes that I’ve collected over the years that will hopefully inspire you to accumulate fewer books and find more time to read.

Ultimately, the number of books always exceeds the space they...
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Ultimately, the number of books always exceeds the space they are granted. Alberto Manguel
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Even when reading is impossible, the presence of books acquired produces such an ecstasy that the buying of more books than one can read is nothing less than the soul reaching towards infinity... We cherish books even if unread, their mere presence exudes comfort, their ready access reassurance. A.E. Newton
The buying of more books than one can read is...
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The buying of more books than one can read is nothing less than the soul reaching toward infinity... A. Edward Newton
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Who was it who said, "I hold the buying of more books than one can peradventure read, as nothing less than the soul's reaching towards infinity; which is the only thing that raises us above the beasts that perish?" Whoever it was, I agree with him. A. Edward Newton
I have no feelings of guilt regarding the books I...
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I have no feelings of guilt regarding the books I have not read and perhaps will never read I know that my books have unlimited patience. They will wait for me till the end of my days. Alberto Manguel
Collect books, even if you don’t plan on reading them...
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Collect books, even if you don’t plan on reading them right away. Filmmaker John Waters has said, “Nothing is more important than an unread library. Austin Kleon
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Organizing the books was a fun afternoon. We decided to put the thick hardback books, mostly intro. to philosophy textbooks and Norton literature anthologies, on the top shelves where they looked good but stayed out of reach since there's no reason for opening them ever again. Then we went by genre: mysteries, cozies, modernists, mountains, sci-fi, beloved childhood volumes, books we bought abroad, books required in school we couldn't sell back, books bought for us we'll read soon, books bought for us we have no intention of reading, books we want to read but are too long for a commitment with our current schedules.. We're not really done with this organization, and I doubt we ever will be, but that's one great part about it. Joshua Isard
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Her seven-year-old self had decided that stealing books was morally bankrupt, but since the books hadn’t actually left the library–they’d merely been relocated–it wasn’t technically stealing. Echo looked around at her sea of tomes, and a single word came to mind: Tsundoku. It was the Japanese word for letting books pile up without reading them all. Melissa Grey