Books were my pass to personal freedom. I learned to read at age three, and soon discovered there was a read more

Books were my pass to personal freedom. I learned to read at age three, and soon discovered there was a whole world to conquer that went beyond our farm in Mississippi.

If a book is really good, it deserves to be read again, and if it's great, it should be read read more

If a book is really good, it deserves to be read again, and if it's great, it should be read at least three times.

The Wise
(Minstrel or Sage,) out of their books are clay;
But in their books, as from read more

The Wise
(Minstrel or Sage,) out of their books are clay;
But in their books, as from their graves they rise.
Angels--that, side by side, upon our way,
Walk with and warn us!

Once we have learned to read, meaning of words can somehow register without consciousness.

Once we have learned to read, meaning of words can somehow register without consciousness.

Books, books, books!
I had found the secret of a garret room
Piled high with cases in read more

Books, books, books!
I had found the secret of a garret room
Piled high with cases in my father's name;
Piled high, packed large,--where, creeping in and out
Among the giant fossils of my past,
Like some small nimble mouse between the ribs
Of a mastodon, I nibbled here and there
At this or that box, pulling through the gap,
In heats of terror, haste, victorious joy,
The first book first. And how I felt it beat
Under my pillow, in the morning's dark,
An hour before the sun would let me read!
My books!
At last, because the time was ripe,
I chanced upon the poets.

Books are the quietest and most constant of friends; they are the most accessible and wisest of counselors, and the read more

Books are the quietest and most constant of friends; they are the most accessible and wisest of counselors, and the most patient of teachers.

In you are sent
The types of Truths whose life is The To Come;
In you soars read more

In you are sent
The types of Truths whose life is The To Come;
In you soars up the Adam from the fall;
In you the Future as the Past is given--
Ev'n in our death ye bid us hail our birth;--
Unfold these pages, and behold the Heaven,
Without one grave-stone left upon the Earth.

All books grow homilies by time; they are
Temples, at once, and Landmarks.

All books grow homilies by time; they are
Temples, at once, and Landmarks.

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