“Every reader his or her book.Every book its reader.”

“That brings me to the real reason for the title: Where does that which happens during reading a book take place? (...) Does not every reader, whether he wants it or not, bring (...) his own experiences and thoughts into the process of reading? (...) Is not every book a mirror in which the reader is reflected, whether he knows it or not? And is not every reader a mirror in which the book is reflected?”

“In reality, every reader is, while reading, the reader of his own self.”

“Every real reader must read Tolstoy and the Purple Chair: the whole of his/her life of reading will change its meaning.”

“Every reader, as he reads, is actually the reader of himself. The writer's work is only a kind of optical instrument he provides the reader so he can discern what he might never have seen in himself without this book. The reader's recognition in himself of what the book says is the proof of the book's truth.”

“Every reader, if he has a strong mind, reads himself into the book, and amalgamates his thoughts with those of the author.”