“It is a good plan to have a book with you in all places and at all times.Most likely you will carry it many a day and never give it a singlelook, but, even so, a book in the hand is always a companionablereminder of that happier world of fancy, which, alas! most of us canonly visit by playing truant from the real world. As some men wearboutonnieres, so a reader carries a book, and sometimes, when heis feeling the need of beauty, or the solace of a friend, he opens it,and finds both.”

“Some men are born to good luck: all they do or try to do comes right—all that falls to them is so much gain—all their geese are swans—all their cards are trumps—toss them which way you will, they will always, like poor puss, alight upon their legs, and only move on so much the faster. The world may very likely not always think of them as they think of themselves, but what care they for the world? what can it know about the matter?”

“Afternoons, when the fossil sea was warm and motionless, and the wine trees stood stiff in the yard, and the little distant Martian bone town was all enclosed, and no one drifted out their doors, you could see Mr. K himself in his room, reading from a metal book with raised hieroglyphs over which he brushed his hand, as one might play a harp. And from the book, as his fingers stroked, a voice sang, a soft ancient voice, which told tales of when the sea was red steam on the shore and ancient men had carried clouds of metal insects and electric spiders into battle.”

“A library is many things. It’s a place to go, to get in out of the rain. It’s a place to go if you want to sit and think. But particularly it is a place where books live, and where you can get in touch with other people, and other thoughts, through books. If you want to find out about something, the information is in the reference books — the dictionaries, the encyclopedias, the atlases. If you like to be told a story, the library is the place to go. Books hold most of the secrets of the world, most of the thoughts that men and women have had. And when you are reading a book, you and the author are alone together — just the two of you. A library is a good place to go when you feel unhappy, for there, in a book, you may find encouragement and comfort. A library is a good place to go when you feel bewildered or undecided, for there, in a book, you may have your question answered. Books are good company, in sad times and happy times, for books are people — people who have managed to stay alive by hiding between the covers of a book.”

“Never force yourself to read a book that you do not enjoy. There are so many good books in the world that it is foolish to waste time on one that does not give you pleasure.”

“People are like books, and the world is like a library. Some believe that it is important to be known with the most possible people, and have what we call superficial relationships with mass amounts of people. If you go in a library it's not important to see the cover of the most possible books, what you will learn if to get out a pair of interesting books and take a good amount of time to read them. Those who want to know the most possible only see the cover of many books, maybe they get as far as a few pages through the books, but they never get to read some of them. So there is actually no point in finding the books in the 1st place.”

“There are books full of great writing that don't have very good stories. Read sometimes for the story... don't be like the book-snobs who won't do that. Read sometimes for the words--the language. Don't be like the play-it-safers who won't do that. But when you find a book that has both a good story and good words, treasure that book.”