"Think of it! We could have gone on longing for one another and pretending not to notice forever. This obsession with dignity can ruin your life if you let it."
- Mary Ann Shaffer
"Reading good books ruins you for enjoying bad books."
"Men are more interesting in books than they are in real life."
"I think you learn more if you're laughing at the same time."
"What on earth did you say to Isola? She stopped in on her way to pick up Pride and Prejudice and to berate me for never telling her about Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy. Why hadn't she known there wer..."
"Have you ever noticed that when your mind is awakened or drawn to someone new, that person's name suddenly pops up everywhere you go? My friend Sophie calls it coincidence, and Mr. Simpless, my parson..."
"Then I imagined a lifetime of having to cry to get him to be kind, and I went back to no again."
"That's what I love about reading: one tiny thing will interest you in a book, and that tiny thing will lead you to another book, and another bit there will lead you onto a third book. It's geometrical..."
"I have gone to [this bookshop] for years, always finding the one book I wanted - and then three more I hadn’t known I wanted."
"Do you arrange your books alphabetically? (I hope not.)"