If justice takes place, there may be hope, even in the face... - Alberto Manguel, The Library at Night

"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."

"Digestion of words as well; I often read aloud to myself in my writing corner in the library, where no one can hear me, for the sake of better savouring the text, so as to make it all the more mine."

"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."

"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."

"One book calls to another unexpectedly, creating alliances across different cultures and centuries."