"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."
"Readers, censors know, are defined by the books they read."
"But at night, when the library lamps are lit, the outside world disappears and nothing but the space of books remains in existence."
"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."
"Ultimately, the number of books always exceeds the space they are granted."
"In a library, no empty shelf remains empty for long."