“A town without a bookshop is a town without a soul.”

“What I say is, a town isn’t a town without a bookstore. It may call itself a town, but unless it’s got a bookstore, it knows it’s not foolin’ a soul.”

“In a town like London there are always plenty of not quite certifiable lunatics walking the streets, and they tend to gravitate towards bookshops, because a bookshop is one of the few places where you can hang about for a long time without spending any money.”

“Towns [in the Midwest] with immigrants are growing. Towns without immigrants are shrinking. It's as simple as that.”

“Like a butcher without a knife, a knight without a sword, and a farrier without a hammer, you cannot have a town without rules; if there were a town like that, a great big anarchy would reign there, just as in the realm of animals!”

“Four times I was honked at for having the temerity to proceed through town without the benefit of metal.”