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"Some who have read the book, or at any rate have reviewed it, have found it boring, absurd, or contemptible, and I have no cause to complain, since I have similar opinions of their works..."
"If you had any guts, you'd go to the library and educate yourself."
"When writers die, they become books."
"Reading, after a certain age, diverts the mind too much from its creative pursuits. Any man who reads too much and uses his own brain too little falls into lazy habits of thinking."
"Fiction gives us empathy: it puts us inside the minds of other people, gives us the gifts of seeing the world through their eyes. Fiction is a lie that tells us true things, over and over."
"Some years ago, when I was still dreaming about becoming that special breed of cat called 'author,' I had a birthday coming up and my wife was out of ideas. I told her to check out the bookstores for any book by Larry Niven except the three I'd already acquired. I don’t remember how many Wanda returned with, but I do know that I still read them periodically."
"Books are a uniquely portable magic."
"She did not need much, wanted very little. A kind word, sincerity, fresh air, clean water, a garden, kisses, books to read, sheltering arms, a cozy bed, and to love and be loved in return."
"I lived in books more than I lived anywhere else."
"There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year-old's life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged. One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world. The other, of course, involves orcs."
"Banning books gives us silence when we need speech. It closes our ears when we need to listen. It makes us blind when we need sight."
"Sam Cogley asked me to give you something special. It’s not a first edition or anything, just a book. Sam says that makes it special, though."
"Lovers of print are simply confusing the plate for the food."
"‘You want stories?’ Thom Merrilin declaimed. ‘I have stories, and I will give them to you. I will make them come alive before your eyes.’"