Of course anyone who truly loves books buys more of them than he or she can hope to read in one fleeting lifetime.
Books support us in our solitude and keep us from being a burden to ourselves.
What a blessing it is to love books as I love them, to be able to converse with the dead, and to live amidst the unreal!
Books, I found, had the power to make time stand still, retreat or fly into the future
Book lovers will understand me, and they will know too, that part of the pleasure of a library lies in its very existence."
There must be something in books, something we can't imagine, to make a woman stay in a burning house; there must be something there. You don't stay for nothing.
...rest, nature, books, music, love for one's neighbor -- such is my idea of happiness. And then, on the top of all that, you for a mate, and children perhaps -- what more can the heart of man desire?
I always advise children who ask me for tips on being a writer to read as much as they possibly can. Jane Austen gave a young friend the same advice, so I'm in good company there.
I've no idea where ideas come from and I hope I never find out, it would spoil the excitement for me if it turned out I just have a funny little wrinkle on the surface of my brain which makes me think about invisible train platforms.
All stories teach, whether the storyteller intends them to or not. They teach the world we create. They teach the morality we live by. They teach it much more effectively than moral precepts and instructions.