“To sit alone in the lamplight with a book spread out before you, and hold intimate converse with men of unseen generations — such is a pleasure beyond compare.”

“There studious let me sit,
And hold high converse with the mighty dead.”

“The value of many men and books rests solely on their faculty for compelling all to speak out the most hidden and intimate things.”

“I do not read a book; I hold a conversation with the author.”

“By lamplight turn these scented leaves and read
a tale of love recorded in old books.”

“By one hour's intimate access to the throne of grace, where the Lord causes his glory to pass before the soul that seeks him, you may acquire more true spiritual knowledge and comfort, than by a day or a week's converse with the best of men, or the most studious perusal of many folios.”

“A poet is a nightingale, who sits in darkness and sings to cheer its own solitude with sweet sounds. His auditors are as men entranced by the melody of an unseen musician.”

“Alone-sex didn't count. It's like the difference between thinking to yourself or having a good conversation with someone----the pleasure is in the exchange."

-Liberty Jones”

“The reading of all good books is like conversation with the finest men of past centuries.”

“There’s people all over these parts, and maybe beyond, who think, as you said, that nobody can be wise alone. So these people try to hold to each other.”