“No one who can read, ever looks at a book, even unopened on a shelf, like one who cannot.”

“and he glanced at the backs of the books, with an awakened curiosity that went below the binding. No one who can read, ever looks at a book, even unopened on a shelf, like one who cannot.”

“Of course anyone who truly loves books buys more of them than he or she can hope to read in one fleeting lifetime. A good book, resting unopened in its slot on a shelf, full of majestic potentiality, is the most comforting sort of intellectual wallpaper.”

“The shelf was filled with books that were hard to read, that could devastate and remake one's soul, and that, when they were finished, had a kick like a mule.”

“When you're a kid, and you first start reading grown-up books, it's like looking in a window at night at people who think no one is around.”

“A person who does not read is no better than one cannot read.”