In a library, no empty shelf remains empty for long. - Alberto Manguel, The Library at Night

"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."

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

"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."

"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."

"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."