Until I feared I would lose it, I never loved to read. One does not love breathing.

Until I feared I would lose it, I never loved to read. One does not love breathing.

My books are water; those of the great geniuses are wine--everybody drinks water.

My books are water; those of the great geniuses are wine--everybody drinks water.

Books are like a mirror. If an ass looks in, you can't expect an angel to look out.

Books are like a mirror. If an ass looks in, you can't expect an angel to look out.

A house is not a home unless it contains food and fire for the mind as well as the body.

A house is not a home unless it contains food and fire for the mind as well as the body.

That is a good book which is opened with expectation and closed in profit.

That is a good book which is opened with expectation and closed in profit.

There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book. Books are well written, or badly written.

There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book. Books are well written, or badly written.

Wherever they burn books they will also, in the end, burn human beings.

Wherever they burn books they will also, in the end, burn human beings.

We get no good
By being ungenerous, even to a book,
And calculating profits--so much help
read more

We get no good
By being ungenerous, even to a book,
And calculating profits--so much help
By so much reading. It is rather when
We gloriously forget ourselves, and plunge
Soul-forward, headlong, into a book's profound,
Impassioned for its beauty, and salt of truth--
'Tis then we get the right good from a book.

He that loveth a book will never want for a faithful friend, a wholesome counselor, a cheerful companion, an effectual read more

He that loveth a book will never want for a faithful friend, a wholesome counselor, a cheerful companion, an effectual comforter