“Librarians are almost always very helpful and often almost absurdly knowledgeable. Their skills are probably underestimated and largely underemployed.”

“The human mind treats a new idea the same way the body treats a strange protein; it rejects it.”

“The alternative to thinking in evolutionary terms is not to think at all.”

“There were always men looking for jobs in America. There were always all these usable bodies. And I wanted to be a writer. Almost everybody was a writer. Not everybody thought they could be a dentist or an automobile mechanic but everybody knew they could be a writer. Of those fifty guys in the room, probably fifteen of them thought they were writers. Almost everybody used words and could write them down, i.e., almost everybody could be a writer. But most men, fortunately, aren't writers, or even cab drivers, and some men--many men--unfortunately aren't anything.”

“until I almost thought he would gradually blow his whole being into the large hole at the top, and ooze away at the keys.”

“Don't mark up the Library's copy, you fool! Librarians are Unprankable. They'll track you down! They have skills!”

“Change might not be fast and it isn't always easy. But with time and effort, almost any habit can be reshaped.”