The computer can help us find what we know is there. But the book remains our symbol and our resource for the unimagined question and the unwelcome answer.

The traveler used to go about the world to encounter the natives. A function of travel agencies now is to prevent this encounter.

Throught human history, illusions of knowledge, not ignorance, have proven to be the principal obstacles to discovery

The improved American highway system isolated the American-in-transit. On his speedway he had no contact with the towns which he by-passed. If he stopped for food or gas, he was served no local fare or local fuel, but had one of Howard Johnson's nationally branded ice cream flavors, and so many gallons of Exxon. This vast ocean of superhighways was nearly as free of culture as the sea traversed by the Mayflower Pilgrims.

The courage to imagine the otherwise is our greatest resource, adding color and suspense to all our life.

The most promising words ever written on the maps of human knowledge are terra incognita, unknown territory.

Best-sellerism is the star system of the book world. A "best seller" is a celebrity among books. It is a book known primarily (sometimes exclusively) for its well-knownness.