“There are 70 million books in American Libraries, but the one I want is always out.” Tom Masson

1. “You see, I do not believe that libraries should be drab places where people sit in silence, and that is the main reason for our policy of employing wild animals as librarians.” Monty Python Skit “Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowedand some few to be chewed and digested.” Francis Bacon “The current definitive answer to almost any question can be found within the four walls of most libraries.” Arthur Ashe “There are 70 million books in American Libraries, but the one I want is always out.” Tom Masson “Librarian is a service occupation. Gas station attendant of the mind.” Richard Powers The Gold Bug Variations “Let books be your dining table.” St. Ephrem the Syrian “I live for books.” Thomas Jefferson

2. “I still find each day too short for all the thoughts I want to think, all the walks I want to take, all the books I want to read, and all the friends I want to see.” John Burroughs “The world is a book and those who do not travel read only a page.” St. Augustine “The worth of a book is to be measured by what you can carry away from it.” James Bryce “The greatest university of all is a collection of books.” Thomas Carlyle “Books, like friends, should be few and well chosen.” Samuel Paterson “The paperback is very interesting but I find it will never replace the hardcover book -- it makes a very poor doorstop.” Alfred Hitchcock “A library is not a luxury but one of the necessities of life.” Henry Ward Beecher

3. [A] lawyer without books would be like a workman without tools. Thomas Jefferson Books are the treasured wealth of the world and the fit inheritance of generations and nations. Henry David Thoreau Books are like imprisoned souls till someone takes them down from a shelf and frees them. Samuel Butler Books are the bees which carry the quickening pollen from one to another mind. James Russell Lowell Libraries are reservoirs of strength, grace and wit, reminders of order, calm and continuity ... Germaine Greer Books are humanity in print. Barbara Tuchman Libraries keep the records on behalf of all humanity. Vartan Gregorian

4. “A teacher can but lead you to the door; learning is up to you.” Chinese proverb “It is the object of learning, not only to satisfy the curiosity and perfect the spirits of ordinary men, but also to advance civilization.” Woodrow Wilson “The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.” Alvin Toffler “Learning is like rowing upstream; not to advance is to drop back.” Chinese proverb “Learning which does not advance each day will daily decrease.” Chinese proverb “Even if one studies to an old age, one will never finish learning.” Chinese proverb “Gold has a price, but learning is priceless.” Chinese proverb