The mortality of all inanimate things is terrible to me, but that of books most of all.

How is it the great pieces of good luck fall to us?

The action is best that secures the greatest happiness for the greatest number.

The mortality of all inanimate things is terrible to me, but that of books most of all.

It is the still, small voice that the soul heeds, not the deafening blasts of doom.

Is it worth while to observe that there are no Venetian blinds in Venice?

Some people can stay longer in an hour than others can in a week.

He who sleeps in continual noise is wakened by silence.

The book which you read from a sense of duty, or because for any reason you must, does not commonly make friends with you.

Wisdom and goodness are twin-born, one heart must hold both sisters, never seen apart.

The secret of the man who is universally interesting is that he is universally interested.

In Europe life is histrionic and dramatized, and in America, except when it is trying to be European, it is direct and sincere.

You'll find as you grow older that you weren't born such a great while ago after all. The time shortens up.

A man never sees all that his mother has been to him until it's too late to let her know that he sees it.

The conqueror is regarded with awe; the wise man commands our respect; but it is only the benevolent man that wins our affection.

Primitive societies without religion have never been found.

There will presently be no room in the world for things; it will be filled up with the advertisements of things.

What the American public wants in the theater is a tragedy with a happy ending.

Inequality is as dear to the American heart as liberty itself.

Tomorrow I shall be sixty-nine, but I do not seem to care. I did not start the affair, and I have not been consulted about it at any step.

We are creatures of the moment; we live from one little space to another, and only one interest at a time fills these.

If we like a man's dream, we call him a reformer; if we don't like his dream, we call him a crank.

The conqueror is regarded with awe the wise man commands our respect but it is only the benevolent man that wins our affection.

It is the curse of prosperity that it takes work away from us and shuts that door to hope and health of spirit.

The difficulty is to know conscience from self interest.

There were a lot of adventure books for boys, historical novels by Kenneth Roberts, and whatever mystery novels the alarmed librarian imagined might not corrupt an eager but innocent youth.

It is chiefly through books that we enjoy intercourse with superior minds. In the best books, great men talk to us, give us their most precious thoughts, and pour their souls into ours.

It is the interest one takes in books that makes a library. And if a library have interest it is; if not, it isn't.

I enjoy about 1 out of 100 movies, it's about the same proportion to books published that I care to read.

I was drawn to boxing because I got beat up as a kid. I was the kid with the piano books in a New York neighbourhood.

It's clear to me that there is no good reason for many philosophy books to sound as complicated as they do.

The proper study of mankind is books.

I have written about 10 books, all just practical encouragement for moms.

Whites were the winners, blacks were the losers, we wrote the history books, and they didn't feature.

Good books, like good friends, are few and chosen; the more select, the more enjoyable.

You could say, in a vulgar Freudian way, that I am the unhappy child who escapes into books. Even as a child, I was most happy being alone. This has not changed.

Jewish villages were built in the place of Arab villages. You do not even know the names of these Arab villages, and I do not blame you because geography books no longer exist.

As I have studied the Bible and the Book of Mormon, I have come to know through the power of the Spirit of God, that these books contain the fullness of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

There are some friends you don't meet for twenty years and when you meet them again it's as if no twenty years has happened - you're lucky when that happens. I feel the same about books.

Then I found books that were written much later, as late as 15 years ago. It was very superficial material, but enough to tell me that the genesis of this story was worth exploring.

To buy books would be a good thing if we also could buy the time to read them.

Well, it was actually - I brought the idea of doing a documentary to HBO back in 2000, when there were some press reports sort of were bandied about that there were going to TV movies based on some of the books that were out.

In my subconscious, my books were part of a single emotional journey.

I get letters from readers who say that they have always hated reading, but somebody suggested one of my books, they actually finished the book and enjoyed it, and they're going on to read another book. I'm thrilled that they have figured out that reading is fun.

I never buy magazines, I never even buy books.

Books are funny little portable pieces of thought.

Without books I would not have become a vivacious reader, and if you are not a reader you are not a writer.

Well see, I'm a good enough writer that not everybody in my books talks exactly like I do.

So while it is true that I find really dark stuff funny sometimes, it's also true that as a writer of books I want to have the whole range of human emotions.