“Reading is a discount ticket to everywhere” is a popular saying that has been printed on posters that are often displayed in school classrooms. Chicago (IL) Tribune columnist Mary Schmich wrote the line on October 28, 1998.
 
Many variations had been used earlier. “A ticket to EVERYWHERE” was cited in a 1959 newspaper ad for WIRA-NBC radio news. ““Reading is a child’s ticket to the future” was said by Illinois Secretary of State George H. Ryan in 1994. “Reading is a ticket to travel to far away countries, just by turning a page” was cited in print in January 1997, during National Book Week. “Reading is a ticket to everywhere”—without “discount”—is a popular version of the saying.
 
   
Wikiquote: Mary Schmich
Mary Theresa Schmich (born November 29, 1953) is a columnist for the Chicago Tribune. Her June 1, 1997 column, commonly referred to as “Wear sunscreen”, was widely attributed on the Internet to a Kurt Vonnegut commencement address at M.I.T. It was later published as a book and released as a popular recording.
 
Quotes
Reading is a discount ticket to everywhere.
. “Now Boarding At Any Newspaper, Magazine Or Book”, Chicago Tribune, 28 October 1998; reprinted in The Best of Mary Schmich (2012) as “A Discount Ticket to Everywhere”.
     
19 May 1959, News-Tribune (Fort Pierce, FL), pg. 3, col. 2 ad:
FREE!
A ticket to EVERYWHERE…
via the News Service of
RADIO WIRA and NBC
 
17 November 1994, Daily Herald (Arlington Heights, IL), “It’s time to open book and read as a family” by Jean Murphy, pg. 1, col. 1:
“Reading is a child’s ticket to the future. We cannot afford to let video games and television control their leisure time.”
(Illinois Secretary of State George H. Ryan.—ed.)
 
20 January 1997, The Capital (Annapolis, MD), “National Book Week: Take time, read with your kids” by Susan Hadary Cohen, pg. B3, col. 2:
Reading is a ticket to travel to far away countries, just by turning a page.
 
21 June 1997, Bluefield (WV) Daily Telegraph, “Literacy,” pg. A-3, col. 2:
A former teacher, Hechler said good reading “is a ticket to good citizenship, a ticket to good jobs, a good college, good government, and a good life.”
   
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toricarrington
‏@toricarrington
“Reading is a discount ticket to everywhere.” Mary Schmich. Hmm…so where would you like to go tonight…?
5:38 PM - 20 Jul 2009
 
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diah suci
‏@diawwh
reading is a ticket to everywhere hahahaha
6:34 AM - 30 Aug 2009
 
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Estrellita L
‏@lindiasari
READING is a ticket to go everywhere…
11:15 PM - 3 Oct 2009
 
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Marek Kośniowski
‏@MarekKosniowski
“Reading is a discount ticket to everywhere. ”
― Mary Schmich #quotes
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12:44 AM - 13 Oct 2015