“Old books that we have known but not possessed cross our path and invite themselves over. New books try to seduce us daily with tempting titles and tantalizing covers.”

“True teachers are those who use themselves as bridges over which they invite their students to cross; then, having facilitated their crossing, joyfully collapse, encouraging them to create their
own.”

“Science books go out of date. We throw the old one away when a newer one comes out, when we have new theories. But we don't throw away our old data; we merely interpret them differently. New theories try to account for old data (and new data) in new ways.”

“Our textbook is the Bible. Besides a title, many books also have a sub-title. We could write as a subtitle on the front of the Bible: "A Textbook for Becoming Completely Happy."”

“The only minds which seduce us are the minds which have destroyed themselves trying to give their life a meaning.”

“A book has got smell. A new book smells great. An old book smells even better. An old book smells like ancient Egypt.”

“The only books that influence us are those for which we are ready, and which have gone a little farther down our particular path than we have yet got ourselves.”

“The great inconvenience of new books is that they prevent us from reading the old ones.”

“All of us have darkness inside us, and at times it possesses and seduces us in ways we never thought possible.”

“Lists of books we re-read and books we can't finish tell more about us than about the relative worth of the books themselves”