The more elusive and ambiguous a symbol is, the more it gains significance and power.

There, Master Niketas,’ Baudolino said, ‘when I was not prey to the temptations of this world, I devoted my nights to imagining other worlds. A bit with the help of wine, and a bit with that of the green honey. There is nothing better than imagining other worlds,’ he said, ‘to forget the painful one we live in. At least so I thought then. I hadn’t yet realized that, imagining other worlds, you end up changing this one.

Never affirm, always allude: allusions are made to test the spirit and probe the heart.

My maternal grandmother - she was a compulsive reader. She had only been through five grades of elementary school, but she was a member of the municipal library, and she brought home two or three books a week for me. They could be dime novels or Balzac.

The real hero is always a hero by mistake; he dreams of being an honest coward like everybody else.

Followers of the occult believe in only what they already know, and in those things that confirm what they have already learned.

Libraries can take the place of God.