It__ remarkable that a device, which fits in your pocket, can hold thousands of books. But a room full of books is an entirely different kind of remarkable.

If you're frightened of the countless number of books in the library, you'll never write anything, until you close your eyes and hold the pen.

Of all the ways of acquiring books, writing them oneself is regarded as the most praiseworthy method._ Walter Benjamin, "Unpacking My Library

Deserted libraries hold the shades of writers who worked within, and are haunted by their absence.

A psychiatrist once told me early in treatment, __top trying to make me like you,_ and what a sobering and welcome smack in the face that statement was. Yet somehow, every day of my life is still a campaign for popularity, or better yet, a crowded funeral.

An ordinary man can surround himself with two thousand books and thenceforward have at least one place in the world in which it is always possible to be happy.