“a conservative is a man who will not look at the new moon, out of respect for that 'ancient institution,' the old one”

“Readers are of two sorts: one who goes carefully through a book, and the other who as carefully lets the book go through him. ”

“Nothing can be truer than fairy wisdom. It is as true as sunbeams.”

“A blessed companion is a book--a book that, fitly chosen, is a lifelong friend...a book that, at a touch, pours its heart into your own.”

“Happiness grows at our own firesides, and is not to be picked in strangers' gardens. ”

“One of the maxims of the new field of conservation biological control is that to control insect herbivores, you must maintain populations of insect herbivores.”

“It startled him even more when just after he was awarded the Galactic Institute's Prize for Extreme Cleverness he got lynched by a rampaging mob of respectable physicists who had finally realized that the one thing they really couldn't stand was a smartass.”