When we were children, learning to read opened up a world of new adventures and ideas. At a time when everything felt beyond our control, the books we loved most were often the ones that reflected the emotions and challenges we faced in our own lives. We’ve long known the benefits of reading at a young age, from improving vocabulary to building empathy, but it can also be beneficial to revisit our childhood literary favorites as adults.
Because we connected with them in some of our most crucial formative years, those treasured books continue to stay with us as we grow — and, if we’re lucky, we can get something new out of them every time we read them. According to author and Oxford fellow Katherine Rundell, reading children’s literature allows us to reconnect with our imaginations and discover new perspectives. As C.S. Lewis reminds us, “No book is really worth reading at the age of ten which is not equally (and often far more) worth reading at the age of fifty.”
Here are 14 memorable quotes from beloved children’s books whose timeless stories and insightful wisdom have no age limit.
Anything can happen, child, / ANYTHING can be.Shel Silverstein, “Where the Sidewalk Ends”
You must never feel badly about making mistakes … as long as you take the trouble to learn from them. For you often learn more by being wrong for the right reasons than you do by being right for the wrong reasons.Norton Juster, “The Phantom Tollbooth”
You have been my friend … That in itself is a tremendous thing.E.B. White, “Charlotte’s Web”
Kindred spirits are not so scarce as I used to think. It’s splendid to find out there are so many of them in the world.Lucy Maud Montgomery, “Anne of Green Gables”
At first people refuse to believe that a strange new thing can be done, then they begin to hope it can be done, then they see it can be done — then it is done and all the world wonders why it was not done centuries ago.Frances Hodgson Burnett, “The Secret Garden”
All shall be done … But it may be harder than you think.C.S. Lewis, “The Chronicles of Narnia”
Never do anything by halves if you want to get away with it. Be outrageous.Roald Dahl, “Matilda”
I could tell you my adventures — beginning from this morning … but it’s no use going back to yesterday, because I was a different person then.Lewis Carroll, “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland”
One day you’ll see how hard it was and how brave you were.Charlie Mackesy, “The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse”
I’m not afraid of storms, for I’m learning how to sail my ship.Louisa May Alcott, “Little Women”
One sees clearly only with the heart. Anything essential is invisible to the eyes.Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, “The Little Prince”
Life’s got to be lived, no matter how long or short … You got to take what comes.Natalie Babbitt, “Tuck Everlasting”
Maybe if you aren’t unhappy sometimes you don’t know how to be happy.Madeleine L’Engle, “A Wrinkle in Time”
Would you like an adventure now … or would you like to have your tea first?J.M. Barrie, “Peter Pan”
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