“I found the human heart empty and insipid everywhere except in books.”

“I found them all drunk, I found no one among them athirst in his heart. And my soul was grieved for the sons of men, for they are blind in their minds and do not see that empty they have come into the world and that empty they are destined to come forth from the world.”

“Accident ruled every corner of the universe except the chambers of the human heart.”

“I have nothing to give but my heart so full and these empty hands."

"They're not empty now.”

“Books everywhere. On the shelves and on the small space above the rows of books and all along the floor and under chairs, books that I have read, books that I have not read.”

“it will, I believe, be everywhere found, that as the clergy are, or are not what they ought to be, so are the rest of the nation.”

“The heart that is empty of doubt is the cleanest of hearts.”

“In books may be found the recipes for manufacture of a steam-engine alongside the recipes for daily living—the prescriptions for the mind and the heart.”

“Empty pockets never held anyone back…it's only empty heads and empty hearts that do it.”

“She wants you to be a god," I told him.
"I know." His face twisted with embarrassment, and in spite of itself my heart lightened. It was such a boyish response. And so human. Parents, everywhere.”