“The Renaissance invented the Middle Ages in order to define itself; the Enlightenment perpetuated them in order to admire itself; and the Romantics revived them in order to escape from themselves. In their widest ramifications 'the Middle Ages' thus constitute one of the most prevalent cultural myths of the modern world.”

“Bits of the World:gathering up bits of the world & setting them out in an order that her children can understand”

“For what are myths if not the imposing of order on phenomena that do not possess order in themselves? And all myths, however they differ from philosophical systems and scientific theories, share this with them, that they negate the principle of randomness in the world.”

“We owe to the Middle Ages the two worst inventions of humanity – gunpowder and romantic love. ”

“Talking with friends about books harks back to the original impulse behind storytelling, the forging of human bonds. We have told ourselves stories not just, in Joan Didion's phrase, in order to live, but in order to live with one another.”

“She loved to return to the world of the book, a workd in which people were willing to let go of everything in order to follow their passions.”

“There is no reality -- only our own order imposed on everything.”