“I do, indeed, close my door at times and surrender myself to a book, but only because I can open the door again and see a human face looking at me”

“If I had been asked in my early youth whether I preferred to have dealings only with men or only with books, my answer would certainly have been in favor of books. In later years this has become less and less the case. Not that I have had so much better experiences with men than with books; on the contrary, purely delightful books even now come my way more often than purely delightful men. But the many bad experiences with men have nourished the meadow of my life as the noblest book could not do, and the good experiences have made the earth into a garden for me.[…:]Here is an infallible test. Imagine yourself in a situation where you are alone, wholly alone on earth, and you are offered one of the two, books or men. I often hear men prizing their solitude, but that is only because there are still men somewhere on earth, even though in the far distance. I knew nothing of books when I came forth from the womb of my mother, and I shall die without books, with another human hand in my own. I do, indeed, close my door at times and surrender myself to a book, but only because I can open the door again and see a human being looking at me.”

“When one door closes another door opens; but we so often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door, that we do not see the ones which open for us.”

“When the door of happiness closes, another opens, but sometimes we look so long at the closed door, that we don't see the one which has been opened for us...'Maybe it's time we stop looking at the closed door, Red.~ Ken ~”

“When the door of happiness closes, another opens, but often times we look so long at the closed door thatwe don't see the one that has been opened for us.”

“When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one that has been opened for us.”