If justice takes place, there may be hope, even in the face... - 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."

"In the dark, with the windows lit and the rows of books glittering, the library is a closed space, a universe of self-serving rules that pretend to replace or translate those of the shapeless universe beyond."

"Every reader exists to ensure for a certain book a modest immortality. Reading is, in this sense, a ritual of rebirth."

"I like to imagine that, on the day after my last, my library and I will crumble together, so that even when I am no more I'll still be with my books."

"Readers, censors know, are defined by the books they read."