Books were my pass to personal freedom. I learned to read at age three, and soon discovered there was a whole world to conquer that went beyond our farm in Mississippi.

I conceive a knowledge of books is the basis upon which other knowledge is to be built.

Like books and black lives, albums still matter.

We do not belong to those who only get their thought from books, or at the prompting of books. It is our custom to think in the open air, walking, leaping, climbing, or dancing on lonesome mountains by preference, or close to the sea, where even the paths become thoughtful.

Books for general reading always smell bad; the odor of common people hangs around them.

The heroes of the books I read, The Lord of the Rings and the Foundation series, always felt a duty to save the world.