books

"There must be something in books, something we can’t imagine, to make a woman stay in a burning house; there must be something there. You don’t stay for nothing."

"I love books, they're in my blood."

"Reading is my favourite occupation, when I have leisure for it and books to read."

"There are essentially two things that will make you wise -- the books you read and the people you meet."

"Books don't offer real escape, but they can stop a mind scratching itself raw."

"To build up a library is to create a life. It's never just a random collection of books."

"The best way to become acquainted with a subject is to write about it."

"Stranger, pause and look;From the dust of agesLift this little book,Turn the tattered pages,Read me, do not let me die!Search the fading letters findingSteadfast in the broken bindingAll that once was I!"

"People don't read any more. It's a sad state of affairs. Reading's the only thing that allows you to use your imagination. When you watch films it's someone else's vision, isn't it?"[Interview in The Independent, 15 October 2005]"

"His library was a fine dark place bricked with books, so anything could happen there and always did. All you had to do was pull a book from the shelf and open it and suddenly the darkness was not so dark anymore."

"A children's story that can only be enjoyed by children is not a good children's story in the slightest."

"Ahhh. Bed, book, kitten, sandwich. All one needed in life, really."

"Books are a narcotic."

"Thank God for books and music and things I can think about."

"فإني قرأت كتاباً في تعريف الجمال كثيرة، فلم اجد احد من تعريف طاغور: "إن الجمال هو الاخلاص"

"It has long been my belief that everyone's library contains an Odd Shelf. On this shelf rests a small, mysterious corpus of volumes whose subject matter is completely unrelated to the rest of the library, yet which, upon closer inspection, reveals a good deal about its owner."

"Books are all the dreams we would most like to have and like dreams they have the power to change consciousness."

"The public library is where place and possibility meet."

"A book must be the axe for the frozen sea within us."

"The truly cultured are capable of owning thousands of unread books without losing their composure or their desire for more."