“stories make you think and dream; books make you want to ask questions”

“Good books make you ask questions. Bad readers want everything answered.”

“If you ask a living teacher a question, he will probably answer you. If you are puzzled by what he says, you can save yourself the trouble of thinking by asking him what he means. If, however, you ask a book a question, you must answer it yourself. In this respect a book is like nature or the world. When you question it, it answers you only to the extent that you do the work of thinking an analysis yourself.”

“Sometimes, you get answers to questions you never thought to ask. And sometimes, the answers make you wish you hadn’t asked the questions in the first place.”

“Each poem leads you to the questions it makes sense to ask it.”

“Those are pretty much the only questions people ask Colonials. If they want you to tell them anything else, just make it up. They will believe you, because you are wearing a costume.”