"Don't ask for guarantees. And don't look to be saved in any one thing, person, machine, or library. Do your own bit of saving, and if you drown, at least die knowing you were heading for shore."
"The home environment can undo a lot you try to do at school."
"Maybe the books can get us half out of the cave. They just might stop us from making the same damm insane mistakes!"
"Digression is the soul of wit. Take the philosophic asides away from Dante, Milton or Hamlet's father's ghost and what stays is dry bones."
"I just want someone to hear what I have to say. And maybe if I talk long enough, it’ll make sense."
"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."