Some travelers collect souvenirs, postcards, or bumper stickers; I bring home a pencil from the various places I visit.

People sometimes think that I bring home all these old books because I'm addicted, that I'm no better than a hoarder with a houseful of crumbling newspapers.

Adventurous reading allows one to escape a little from the provincialities of one's home culture and the blinders of one's narrow self.

When I come to visit my mom - every two or three months - I generally spend five or six hours with her each day. She's always immensely glad to see me, her eldest child, her only son.

Most scholarly books we read for the information or insight they contain. But some we return to simply for the pleasure of the author's company.

Someday, men will visit ideas instead of places.