Who knew there were Walt Disney quotes about books? It seems he had a lot to say about a lot of things. I just didn’t realize books was one of them. I stumbled across this quote yesterday and loved it. See what you think.
“There is more treasure in books than in all the pirates loot on Treasure Island.” – Walt Disney (Quotes about Books)
I really like the idea of books being treasure. Especially since I’ve collected hundreds of them over the years and cherish many. And I try to put buried treasure in all of the books I write, too. My books have lots of secrets in them and things to unearth. Characters with flaws and a bit of the pirate in them. Check out The Secret Sense of Wildflower. You might find some treasure in it. Walt Disney, if he were still alive and well, might even quote something about the book.
Do you have a book that you treasure right now? Are you reading something that makes you feel like you’ve discovered all the pirates loot on Treasure Island? If so, I’d love to hear about it. (It can be fiction, non-fiction, poetry, short stories–anything you don’t want readers to miss.)
Have you found any other Walt Disney quotes about books? If so, please share.
Mine is my collection of picture books, from olden goldies such as Good Night Moon to funkier stuff like Chris van Allsburg’s The Z was Zapped: A Play in Twenty-six Acts (terrible things happen to the alphabet). With my first grandchild on the way, I’m treasuring it more than ever!
Hi Barbara,
Your treasure of picture books sounds lovely. I have a collection, too. But alas, with no first grandchild on the way. At this point, I have only grand-dogs, though I love them, too.
Thanks for stopping by!
And from one of our lovely email subscribers:
“Hi Susan—I just finished reading the novel by Ella Ullman, entitled “By Blood”. What a read this is. A book so well written, I couldn’t put it down. I read for hours and when I put it down, I wanted for more. Your readers can find details of this book on Amazon. This is a novel you will not want to miss, Susan.”
One of my favorite collectible books is a coffeetable chess book from the mid 1970s, when chess was briefly the sort of thing a publisher would invest a lot of money in because of the sudden Bobby Fischer mania.
It’s filled with beautiful photography on glossy pages, with a red cloth-and-gold hardback cover under the dust cover. Binding is sewn. No chapter ends with white space to the next chapter. The text always goes to the bottom of the page and the sentence ends at the end of the column. The layout–pre-computers–is fantastic.
Interestingly the authors, analyzing a famous move by Bobby Fischer in a 1963 game, notes the move has never been unsurpassed for its utter originality. Recently I was puttering around in an online database and found an identical move in a nearly identical situation about ten years earlier in an obscure student game by Russian Mikhail Tal. Fischer studied Tal intently and I’m betting he knew this game. The power of databases!
Since Fischer abdicated his crown and went into seclusion shortly after this book was published, it will never be reprinted. It deals with the whole history of chess, but the last chapter glorifies Fischer and was at the time really the whole point of the book. Today no book glorifying Fischer would be published.
So I hold on to it. I only look through it when there’s no food around, and I wouldn’t date sip a cup of coffee holding it. Oh, and did I mention the writing, from back when they took their time and used editors and proof-readers, is superb? You could become a better writer just by reading that book, even if you don’t play any chess.
Sounds like unexpected treasure, John. It’s kind of amazing to me how much you know about random things (at least random from my perspective). Thanks for your thoughtful comment!
There are 4 books I hold sacred and always carry 1 of them when I travel: They Came Like Swallows-William Maxwell, The Great Gatsby-F.Scott Fitzgerald, Love in the Time of Cholera-Gabriel Garcia Marquez, and Crossing to Safety-Wallace Stegner. They are the Canon to me.
Just finished reading 22 Brittiania Road. A powerful story and a great writing lesson all in one. It may well go into my traveler’s bag!
Great suggestions, Nancy. I especially want to check out the Amanda Hodgkinson one. I’m always up for a great writing lesson! Thanks so much for commenting!
Don’t know if it’s a treasure, but there’s a story that Albert Einstein once got a handsome check from some organization and used it as a bookmark. Then he gave away the book! So someone found a treasure, though they couldn’t do anything with it unless Al signed it over.