Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body. – Richard Steele, Tatler, 1710

Through all of my youth these books were my companions, and now, as I write these lines, after sixty years, they still look down upon me with their old friendliness. – James L. Whitney, “Reminiscences of an Old Librarian,” November 1909

Christie loved books… This amusement lightened many heavy hours, peopled the silent house with troops of friends, and, for a time, was the joy of her life. – Louisa May Alcott, “Servant,” Work: A Story of Experience, 1873