'Tis pleasant, sure, to see one's name in print; A book's a book, although there's nothing in it.


'Tis the good reader that makes the good book; in every book he finds passages which seem to be confidences or sides hidden from all else and unmistakably meant for his ear; the profit of books is according to the sensibility of the reader; the profound thought or passion sleeps as in a mine, until it is discovered by an equal mind and heart.


A bad book is as much of a labor to write as a good one; it comes as sincerely from the author's soul.


A bad book is the worse that it cannot repent. It has not been the devil's policy to keep the masses of mankind in ignorance; but finding that they will read, he is doing all in his power to poison their books.


A bibliophile of little means is likely to suffer often. Books don't slip from his hands but fly past him through the air, high as birds, high as prices.


A big leather-bound volume makes an ideal razor strap. A thin book is useful to stick under a table with a broken caster to steady it. A large, flat atlas can be used to cover a window with a broken pane. And a thick, old-fashioned heavy book with a clasp is the finest thing in the world to throw at a noisy cat.


A book is a garden, an orchard, a storehouse, a party, a company by the way, a counselor, a multitude of counselors.


A book is a mirror: If an ass peers into it, you can't expect an apostle to look out.


A book is a part of life, a manifestation of life, just as much as a tree or a horse or a star. It obeys its own rhythms, its own laws, whether it be a novel, a play, or a diary. The deep, hidden rhythm of life is always there — that of the pulse, the heart beat.


A book is a version of the world. If you do not like it, ignore it; or offer your own version in return.


A book is like a man — clever and dull, brave and cowardly, beautiful and ugly. For every flowering thought there will be a page like a wet and mangy mongrel, and for every looping flight a tap on the wing and a reminder that wax cannot hold the feathers firm too near the sun.


A book is the only immortality.


A book may be compared to your neighbor: if it be good, it cannot last too long; if bad, you cannot get rid of it too early.


A book might be written on the injustice of the just.


A book that is shut is but a block.


A book worth reading is worth buying.


A classic is something that everybody wants to have read and nobody wants to read.


A conventional good read is usually a bad read, a relaxing bath in what we know already. A true good read is surely an act of innovative creation in which we, the readers, become conspirators.


A dose of poison can do its work but once. A bad book can go on poisoning minds for generations.


A good book is the best of friends, the same today and for ever.

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