Life-transforming ideas have always come to me through books.
Bell Hooks, O Magazine, December 2003

Many books require no thought from those who read them, and for a very simple reason; they made no such demand upon those who wrote them.
Charles Caleb Colton (1780 - 1832), Lacon, 1820

I've never known any trouble that an hour's reading didn't assuage.
Charles De Secondat (1689 - 1755)

Books are the quietest and most constant of friends; they are the most accessible and wisest of counsellors, and the most patient of teachers.
Charles W. Eliot (1834 - 1926), The Happy Life, 1896

There is no mistaking a real book when one meets it. It is like falling in love.
Christopher Morley (1890 - 1957)