“There are a lot of people like me, people who need books the way they need air.”

“This is because white people need to show off the books that they have read. Just as hunters will mount the heads of their kills, white people need to let people know that they have made their way through hundreds or even thousands of books.”

“People need space; families need air; love needs light. Like Mrs. Anastagio always said, ―You need enough rooms to love someone properly.”

“People who didn't need people needed people around to know that they were the kind of people who didn't need people.”

“I wanted to be one of those people who have streaks to maintain, who scorch the ground with their intensity. But for now, at least I knew such people, and they needed me, just like comets need tails.”

“On L. Ron Hubbard:Now I must admit that "Battlefield Earth" is a book with something for everyone, all the way across the cultural scale from people who need doorstops to people who want to start bonfires.”