No one should ever finish a book they're not enjoying, no matter how popular or well reviewed the book is.

The role of a librarian is to make sense of the world of information. If that's not a qualification for superhero-dom, what is?

Whenever I begin reading a new book, I am embarking on a new, uncharted journey with an unmarked destination. I never know where a particular book will take me, toward what other books I will be led.

Simply adored Timothy Schaffert's The Coffins of Little Hope: the voice of Essie, the narrator, is terrific & the last line blew me away.

I just said, 'Well, the real people performing miracles every day are librarians,' and we all laughed ourselves off our chairs.

From Paul to Stalin, the popes who have chosen Caesar have prepared the way for Caesars who quickly learn to despise popes.

There are no good laws but such as repeal other laws.

A thousand people will stop smoking today. Their funerals will be held sometime in the next three or four days.

'Y' is about the weakest letter of all. 'Y' can't make up its mind if it's a vowel or a consonant, can it?

He who seeks intelligence lacks intelligence.

Statesman create; ordinary leaders consume. The ordinary leader is satisfied with ameliorating the environment, not transforming it; a statesman must be a visionary and an educator.

In Europe, it's more common to hear aggressive dance tracks on the radio.

All my songs are based on melody, which is retrieved from my Jewish heritage. Melody will always exist no matter what the rhythmic changes there are.

The wind blows out, the bubble dies; The spring entomb'd in autumn lies; The dew dries up; the star is shot; The flight is past, and man forgot.

One always wonders about roads not taken.