"For him that stealeth, or borroweth and returneth not,

this book from its owner, let it change into a serpent in

his hand and rend him.

Let him be struck with palsy, and all his members blasted.

Let him languish in pain, crying aloud for mercy, and let

Let bookworms gnaw his entrails...and when at last he

goeth to his last punishment, let the flames of hell consume

him for ever."

-Curse on book thieves, from the monestary of San Pedro, Barcelona, Spain

"Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested: that is, some books are to be read only in parts, others to be read, but not curiously, and some few to be read wholly, and with diligence and attention."- Francis Bacon

"Of course that is not the whole story, but that is the way with stories; we make them what we will. It's a way of explaining the universe while leaving the universe unexplained, it's a way of keeping it all alive, not boxing it into time. Everyone who tells a story tells it differently, just to remind us that everybody sees it differently. Some people say there are true things to be found, some people say all kinds of things can be proved. I don't believe them. The only thing for certain is how complicated it all is, like string full of knots. It's all there but hard to find the beginning and impossible to fathom the end. The best you can do is admire the cats cradle, and maybe knot it up a bit more."-Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit Jeanette Winterson

"Resolve to edge in a little reading every day, if it is but a single sentance. If you gain fifteen minutes a day, it will make itself felt at the end of the year."-Horace Mann

"People say that life is the thing, but I prefer reading."- Logan Pearsall Smith

"The one way of tolerating existence is to lose oneself in literature as in a perpetual orgy."-Gustave Flaubert, 1858