“So you read this book and, God willing, enjoyed it. Do I have to tell you how proud a mother would be of a son like that? I Don't. Now maybe he'll give up all this foolishness and go into a worthwhile profession.”

“I hate lending, or borrowing—if you want me to read a book, tell me about it, or buy me a copy outright. Your loaned edition sits in my house like a real grievance. And in lieu of lending books, I buy extra copies of those I want to give away, which gives me the added pleasure of buying books I love again and again.” --Jonathan Lethem”

“My own daughter a streetwalker! If you have any consideration for your parents at all you'll do the only decent thing.What's that?You'll leave this house and not come back until you're a virgin.”

“There is a simple rule: practice a kind of generous selfishness. Give a book to a friend, but don't lend it, because you will never get it back. ~ James Wood, author of The Book Against God.”

“But as I glared up at Hawkins, I realized he was only looking down at me. "You got my attention. Now what are you going to do with it?" He said into the microphone.”

“I do lend my books, but I have to be a bit selective because my marginalia are so incriminating.” --Alison Bechdel”

“When you stand inside somebody's library, you get a powerful sense of who they are, and not just who they are now but who they've been. . . . It's a wonderful thing to have in a house. It's something I worry is endangered by the rise of the e-book. When you turn off an e-book, there's no map. All that's left behind is a chunk of gray plastic. ~ Lev Grossman”