„We can no longer expect the one big book, the single achievement, to be an author’s claim to posterity’s regard. We shall be more inclined to assess the stature of a novelist by his ability to create what the French call an oeuvre, to present fragments of an individual vision in book after book, to build, if not a War and Peace or Ulysses, at least a shelf.“

— Anthony Burgess

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„Each book can make a life or a fragment of it more beautiful.“
— William Saroyan
„Why is it that countries which we call strong" are so powerful in creating wars but are so weak in bringing peace? Why is it that giving guns is so easy but giving books is so hard? Why is it, why is it that making tanks is so easy, but building schools is so hard?“
— Malala Yousafzai
„We shouldn't teach great books; we should teach a love of reading. Knowing the contents of a few works of literature is a trivial achievement. Being inclined to go on reading is a great achievement.“
— B.F. Skinner
„A book lying idle on a shelf is wasted ammunition.“
— Henry Miller
„A book lying idle on a shelf is wasted ammunition. Like money, books must be kept in constant circulation. Lend and borrow to the maximum.“
— Henry Miller
„There is not one big cosmic meaning for all; there is only the meaning we each give to our life, an individual meaning, an individual plot, like an individual novel, a book for each person.“
— Anaïs Nin