“The books that everybody admires are those that nobody reads.”

“Never lend books, for no one ever returns them; the only books I have in my library are books that other folks have lent me.”

“Within every one of us there lives both a Don Quixote and aSancho Panza to whom we hearken by turns; and though Sanchomost persuades us, it is Don Quixote that we find ourselves obligedto admire...”

“This book bore the label R>3214 VIII/2. And this painful truth was suddenly borne in upon the mind of Monsieur Sariette: to wit, that the most scientific system of numbering will not help to find a book if the book is no longer in its place.”

“We have never heard the devil's side of the story, God wrote all the book.”

“Time deals gently only with those who take it gently.”

“I awaited Signor Polizzi's reply with ill-contained impatience. I could not even remain quiet; I would make sudden nervous gestures - open books and violent close them again. One day I happened to upset a book with my elbow - a volume of Moréri. Hamilcar, who was washing himself, suddenly stopped, and looked angrily at me, with his paw over his ear. Was this the tumultuous existence he must expect under my roof? Had there not been a tacit understanding between us that we should live a peaceful life? I had broken the covenant.”