A man's got to take a lot of punishment to write a really funny book.

A man's got to take a lot of punishment to write a really funny book.

That place that does contain
My books, the best companions, is to me
A glorious court, where read more

That place that does contain
My books, the best companions, is to me
A glorious court, where hourly I converse
With the old sages and philosophers;
And sometimes, for variety, I confer
With kings and emperors, and weigh their counsels;
Calling their victories, if unjustly got,
Unto a strict account, and, in my fancy,
Deface their ill-placed statues.

Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few
to be chewed and digested.

Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few
to be chewed and digested.

Literary imagination is an aesthetic object offered by a writer to a lover of books.

Literary imagination is an aesthetic object offered by a writer to a lover of books.

Books are for people who wish they were somewhere else.

Books are for people who wish they were somewhere else.

If I have not read a book before, it is, for all intents and purposes, new to me whether it read more

If I have not read a book before, it is, for all intents and purposes, new to me whether it was printed yesterday or three hundred years ago.

Fiction reveals truth that reality obscures.

Fiction reveals truth that reality obscures.

What is reading, but silent conversation.

What is reading, but silent conversation.

Now go, write it before them in a table, and note it in a book,
that it may be read more

Now go, write it before them in a table, and note it in a book,
that it may be for the time to come for ever and ever.