Every reader has found charms by which to secure possession of a page that, by magic, becomes as if never read before, fresh and immaculate.

Every reader exists to ensure for a certain book a modest immortality. Reading is, in this sense, a ritual of rebirth.

The love of libraries, like most loves, must be learned.

If justice takes place, there may be hope, even in the face of a seemingly capricious divinity.

One book calls to another unexpectedly, creating alliances across different cultures and centuries.

Deserted libraries hold the shades of writers who worked within, and are haunted by their absence.

Entering a library, I am always stuck by the way in which a certain vision of the world is imposed upon the reader through its categories and its order.

I like to imagine that, on the day after my last, my library and I will crumble together, so that even when I am no more I'll still be with my books.

Ultimately, the number of books always exceeds the space they are granted.

Unpacking books is a revelatory activity.

If every library is in some sense a reflection of its readers, it is also an image of that which we are not, and cannot be.

The passive and overt violence waged against the women and children of the world must end.

Desire is to ask for something in silence, without really wanting it, for having it wouldn't fill you as much as having desired it.

He turned one of his death rays into an ice cream maker, except he said I shouldn’t eat too much of it at once.”I nodded slowly. “Right, ” I said. “That’s…sweet, I think.

A kiss makes the heart young again and wipes out the years.

If you wait four or five years between records, it better be a masterpiece, you know? And if you keep putting them out, you're saying, 'Hey, here's 10 more songs'.

The music industry had virtually blacklisted me.

The world protested our invasion of Iraq, but the people of America were never made aware of that - through the censorship that goes on here, and believe me it's going on here.

Oh, please," I rolled my eyes, "You're a leftie, Barrons." "Touche, Ms. Lane," he murmured.

I don't think about the styles. I write whatever comes out and I use whatever kind of instrumentation works for those songs.

The music industry is so tied up politically. They're afraid they might let other voices in.