I could almost hear the characters inside, murmuring and jostling, impatient for me to open the cover and let them out.

Books act like a developing fluid on film. That is, they bring into consciousness what you didn’t know you knew.

I fold my hands under my head and tell the books all about you. They listen, Beck. I know it sounds crazy, but they do.

From the standpoint of what eternity is it better to have read a thousand books than to have ploughed a million furrows?

From the standpoint of what eternity is it better to have read a thousand books than to have ploughed a million furrows?

Books: a beautifully browsable invention that needs no electricity and exists in a readable form no matter what happens.

Honestly, I hate when in books, the guys changes the girl's life. Like, no. The girl needs to change her own life.

I truly believe that if you have more friends than books, you have too many friends. Or not enough books. Probably both.

I do lend my books, but I have to be a bit selective because my marginalia are so incriminating.” --Alison Bechdel

I’ll bet opening a store called Boobs and Books would increase literacy. I prefer a hands-on approach to learning.

I need words and print... I need print like an addict. I could live without it, perhaps. But I hope I never have to try.

Yet when books have been read and reread, it boils down to the horse, his human companion, and what goes on between them.

Lire un bon livre, ça redonne envie de vivre, ça vous donne envie de partir, A la recherche du temps perdu.

If a book isn’t at least somewhat polarizing, it didn’t say anything of value.[Blog entry - November 1, 2014]

When you reread a classic you do not see more in the book than you did before; you see more in you than there was before.