But at night, when the library lamps are lit, the outside wo... - Alberto Manguel, The Library at Night
"But at night, when the library lamps are lit, the outside world disappears and nothing but the space of books remains in existence."
More quotes by Alberto Manguel, The Library at Night
"If every library is in some sense a reflection of its readers, it is also an image of that which we are not, and cannot be."
"There is a line of poetry, a sentence in a fable, a word in an essay, by which my existence is justified; find that line, and immortality is assured."
"My books hold between their covers every story I've ever known and still remember, or have now forgotten, or may one day read; they fill the space around me with ancient and new voices."
"It hardly matters why a library is destroyed: every banning, curtailment, shredding, plunder or loot gives rise (at least as a ghostly presence) to a louder, clearer, more durable library of the banned, looted, plundered, shredded or curtailed."
"Every reader exists to ensure for a certain book a modest immortality. Reading is, in this sense, a ritual of rebirth."