Sometimes I wish the public were equally aware of the men of our race in the cultural fields. You, for instance, have you ever bought a book by a Negro writer?

A man is known by the company his mind keeps.

The possession of a book becomes a substitute for reading it.

To read a writer is for me not merely to get an idea of what he says, but to go off with him, and travel in his company.

What a convenient and delightful world is this world of books!-if you bring to it not the obligations of the student, or look upon it as an opiate for idleness, but enter it rather with the enthusiasm of the adventurer!

How many good books suffer neglect through the inefficiency of their beginnings!

It is with books as with men-a very small number play a great part; the rest are lost in the multitude.

Reading is actually plunging into one's own identity and, one hopes, emerging stronger than before. You see, unconsciously, we are seeking to find an affirmation to our own world perception and set of values.

My alma mater was books, a good library. ... I could spend the rest of my life reading, just satisfying my curiosity.

Some books are undeservedly forgotten; none are undeservedly remembered.