“Of all things, I liked books best.”

Perhaps I failed, but I did my best, These masters of mine may do the rest.

As I review the events of my past life I realize how subtle are the influences that shape our destinies.

From my childhood I had been intended for the clergy. This prospect hung like a dark cloud on my mind.

When natural inclination develops into a passionate desire, one advances towards his goal in seven-league boots.

The future will show whether my foresight is as accurate now as it has proved heretofore.

Most persons are so absorbed in the contemplation of the outside world that they are wholly oblivious to what is passing on within themselves.

There is no memory or retentive faculty based on lasting impression. What we designate as memory is but increased responsiveness to repeated stimuli.

We should begin at the very root from which we spring, we should effect a radical reform in the character of the food.

The desire that guides me in all I do is the desire to harness the forces of nature to the service of mankind.

My brain is only a receiver, in the Universe there is a core from which we obtain knowledge, strength and inspiration. I have not penetrated into the secrets of this core, but I know that it exists.

The progressive development of man [has as its] ultimate purpose the complete mastery of mind over the material world.

Fights between individuals, as well as governments and nations, invariably result from misunderstandings in the broadest interpretation of this term.

All the great religions contain wise prescriptions relating to the conduct of life, which hold good now as they did when they were promulgated.

The harness of waterfalls is the most economical method known for drawing energy from the sun.

Our entire biological system, the brain, and the Earth itself, work on the same frequencies.

My father had a large library and whenever I could manage I tried to satisfy my passion for reading.

However much you study, you cannot know without action. A donkey laden with books is neither an intellectual nor a wise man. Empty of essence, what learning has he whether upon him is firewood or book?

That individual who reads useful books is no longer on the same plane of thinking as those who neglected them.

This is not a novel to be tossed aside lightly. It should be thrown with great force.

The unbeliever knows his Koran best.

Our Lord has written the promise of resurrection, not in books alone, but in every leaf in springtime.

You know, I don’t only play for the record books.

He who learns, and makes no use of his learning, is a beast of burden with a load of books. Does the ass comprehend whether he carries on his back a library or a bundle of faggots?

You don’t have to burn books to destroy a culture. Just get people to stop reading them.