“Writing a long and substantial book is like having a friend and companion at your side, to whom you can always turn for comfort and amusement, and whose society becomes more attractive as a new and widening field of interest is lighted in the mind.”

“Ardently alert means that when the mind is staying with the breath, you try to be as sensitive as possible in adjusting it to make it feel good, and in monitoring the results of your efforts. Try long breathing to see how it feels. Try short breathing, heavy breathing, light breathing, deep, shallow. The more refined you can make your awareness, the better the meditation goes because you can make the breath more and more refined, a more and more comfortable place for the mind to stay. Then you can let that sense of comfort spread throughout the body. Think of the breath not simply as the air coming in and out the lungs, but as the flow of energy throughout the whole body. The more refined your awareness, the more sensitive you can be to that flow. The more sensitive you are, the more refined the breath becomes, the more gratifying, the more absorbing it becomes as a place to stay.”

Thanissaro Bhikkhu (1949) Theravadin Buddhist Monk and Scholar

“In order to write the book you want to write, in the end you have to become the person you need to become to write that book.”

Junot Díaz (1968) Dominican-American writer

“Men want a woman whom they can turn on and off like a light switch. ”

Ian Fleming (1908–1964) English author, journalist and naval intelligence officer

“Books have been my classroom and my confidant. Books have widened my horizons. Books have comforted me in my hardest times. Books have changed my life.”

Po Bronson (1964) American writer

“the companions of our childhood always possess a certain power over our minds which hardly any later friend can obtain.”

Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus

“It is not until science has become a discipline to which the research ability of any mind from any class in society can be attracted that it can become rigorously scientific.”

Margaret Mead (1901–1978) American anthropologist

“I understand that fear is my friend, but not always. Never turn your back on fear. It should always be in front of you, like a thing that might have to be killed.”

Hunter S. Thompson (1937–2005) American journalist and author

“There is much you can learn from books and scrolls. These books are my friends, my companions. They make me laugh and cry and find meaning in life.”

Christopher Paolini book Eragon

“Who wants to be used? I love to read, so books are my main friends. They're always available, always friendly, and always interesting, and they never make me choose sides.”

Lurlene McDaniel (1944) American writer