Many book lovers agree that summer is the best time to read books. To celebrate summertime, here are 10 of the best literary quotes about summer. Also, don’t forget to check out these books to read this summer.

1. “Summer afternoon—summer afternoon; to me those have always been the two most beautiful words in the English language.”―Henry James

2. “Green was the silence, wet was the light, the month of June trembled like a butterfly.”―Pablo Neruda, 100 Love Sonnets

3. “Bees do have a smell, you know, and if they don’t they should, for their feet are dusted with spices from a million flowers.”―Ray Bradbury, Dandelion Wine

4. “And so with the sunshine and the great bursts of leaves growing on the trees, just as things grow in fast movies, I had that familiar conviction that life was beginning over again with the summer.”―F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby

5. “O light! This is the cry of all the characters of ancient drama brought face to face with their fate. This last resort was ours, too, and I knew it now. In the middle of winter I at last discovered that there was in me an invincible summer.”―Albert Camus, L’été

6. “I almost wish we were butterflies and liv’d but three summer days – three such days with you I could fill with more delight than fifty common years could ever contain.”―John Keats, Bright Star: Love Letters and Poems of John Keats to Fanny Brawne

7. “It was June, and the world smelled of roses. The sunshine was like powdered gold over the grassy hillside.”―Maud Hart Lovelace, Betsy-Tacy and Tib

8. “What good is the warmth of summer, without the cold of winter to give it sweetness.”―John Steinbeck, Travels with Charley: In Search of America

9. “Summer will end soon enough, and childhood as well.”―George R.R. Martin, A Game of Thrones

10. “One benefit of Summer was that each day we had more light to read by.”―Jeannette Walls, The Glass Castle

Related: 10 Bookish Accessories For Your Beach Reads and 20 Pieces of Art that Perfectly Capture the Joy of Summertime Reading