“Unlikely things are often true . . .”

“...to be free is often to be lonely”

“The Arcade, and now Peabody's, combined to tell me that there was life in objects, in books. It was all about having eyes to see the true meaning of things. As Pike proved daily, books held a kind of magic, an apparent as well as a hidden value.”

“I didn't know then that this was how deep emotion most often comes, from opposite directions and at once, when you are least aware and farthest from yourself.”

“The books housed in one's first adult bookshelf are the geological bed of who we wish to become”

“Books aren't lumps of paper, but minds on shelves.”

“nothing is ever what you imagine, is it?”