I'm writing a small speech and would like to end or begin the speech with a quote from an author....?

Question

....because its for my English class and its about what inspires my writing and what inspired me to start reading....any ideas? thanks!

Answer 1

"To thine own self be true." Shakespeare

Answer 2

I found several. Hope you can use them!


I cannot live without books.
Thomas Jefferson

I must say that I find television very educational. The minute somebody turns it on, I go to the library and read a book.
Groucho Marx

A book is like a garden carried in the pocket.
Chinese Proverb

Anyone who has a library and a garden wants for nothing.
Cicero

Reading is a basic tool in the living of a good life.
Mortimer J. Adler

To acquire the habit of reading
is to construct for yourself a refuge
from almost all of the miseries of life.
W. Somerset Maugham

I had just taken to reading. I had just discovered the art of leaving my body to sit impassive in a crumpled up attitude in a chair or sofa, while I wandered over the hills and far away in novel company and new scenes... My world began to expand very rapidly,... the reading habit had got me securely.
H. G. Wells

Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body.
Richard Steele

In a very real sense, people who have read good literature have lived more than people who cannot or will not read.
S. I. Hayakawa

The more that you read,
the more things you will know.
The more that you learn,
the more places you'll go.
Dr. Seuss

There is no Frigate like a Book
To take us Lands away,
Nor any Coursers like a Page
Of prancing Poetry...
Emily Dickinson

When I get a little money I buy books; and if any is left
I buy food and clothes.
Erasmus

When I... discovered libraries, it was like having Christmas every day.
Jean Fritz

When I got [my] library card, that was when my life began.
Rita Mae Brown

We read to know we are not alone.
C.S. Lewis

I've traveled the world twice over,
Met the famous; saints and sinners,
Poets and artists, kings and queens,
Old stars and hopeful beginners,
I've been where no-one's been before,
Learned secrets from writers and cooks
All with one library ticket
To the wonderful world of books.
Unknown

Answer 3

When I got [my] library card, that was when my life began.
~ Rita Mae Brown ~

I am a part of everything that I have read.
~ John Kieran ~

The more that you read,
the more things you will know.
The more that you learn,
the more places you'll go.
~ Dr. Seuss ~

You can't wait for inspiration you have to go after it with a club
~ Jack London ~

Imagination is more important than knowledge.
~ Albert Einstein ~

Writing is the only thing that, when I do it, I don't feel I should be doing something else.
~ Gloria Steinem ~

To me, the greatest pleasure of writing is not what it's about, but the inner music the words make.
~Truman Capote ~

Answer 4

If you are looking for quotes about reading here are two of my favorites:

1) “Today a reader, tomorrow a leader.” Margaret Fuller
Margaret Fuller was a 19th c. writer. She was part of the New England circle of Transcendentalists ( Emerson, Thoreau, etc.) and became one of the first political feminist in America
2) “We read to know we are not alone.” C.S. Lewis
C.S. Lewis is the British author who wrote the Chronicles of Narnia.

Answer 5

all places are filled with fools, cicero. It means that all people are learning at all stages in their lives. The greatest way to obtain knowledge is through reading. Does that inspire you.

Answer 6

You could start by saying that as your topic was 'inspiration', you hunted for quotations which mention this elusive quality.

Thomas Alva Edison, inventor, stated that, "Genius is one per cent inspiration and ninety-nine per cent perspiration. " At least he admitted that you have to be inspired before you perspire.

Willy Wonka, however, stated that, "Invention, my dear friends, is 93% perspiration, 6% electricity, 4% evaporation, and 2% butterscotch ripple."

A humorous lead-in might get their attention