Each country thinks its school is in a specific crisis, without ever linking the school's crisis to that of the society around it.

Once a book falls into our possession, it is ours, the same way children lay their claim: 'That's my book.' As if it were organically part of them. That must be why we have so much trouble returning borrowed books. It's not exactly theft (of course not, we're not thieves, what are you implying?); it's simply a slippage in ownership or, better still, a transfer of substance. That which belonged to someone else becomes mine when I look at it. And if I like what I read, naturally I'll have difficulty giving it back.

I have never experienced a sorrow that was not relieved by an hour of reading.

The paradoxical virtue of reading lies in distancing ourselves from the world so that we may make sense of it.

By making time to read, like making time to love, we expand our time for living.

All it takes is one teacher - just one - to save us from ourselves and make us forget all the others.

When you buy a jacket, it’s important the pockets are big enough for a paperback!