To live alone is the fate of all great souls.

It is a clear gain to sacrifice pleasure in order to avoid pain.

A man can be himself only so long as he is alone.

Buying books would be a good thing if one could also buy the time to read them in: but as a rule the purchase of books is mistaken for the appropriation of their contents.

Books are like a mirror. If an ass looks in, you can't expect an angel to look out.

Without books the development of civilization would have been impossible. They are the engines of change, windows on the world, ''Lighthouses'' as the poet said ''erected in the sea of time.'' They are companions, teachers, magicians, bankers of the treasures of the mind, Books are humanity in print.

Reading is equivalent to thinking with someone else's head instead of with one's own.

In the sphere of thought, absurdity and perversity remain the masters of the world, and their dominion is suspended only for brief periods.

With people of limited ability modesty is merely honesty. But with those who possess great talent it is hypocrisy.

The discovery of truth is prevented more effectively, not by the false appearance things present and which mislead into error, not directly by weakness of the reasoning powers, but by preconceived opinion, by prejudice.