The alluring influences of bibliophilism, or book-loving, have silently crept into thousands of homes, whether beautiful or humble; for the library is properly regarded as one of the most important features of home as well as mental equipment. – Henry H. Harper, Book-Lovers, Bibliomaniacs and Book Clubs, 1904

That is a good book which is opened with expectation and closed with profit. – Amos Bronson Alcott

Books, not which afford us a cowering enjoyment, but in which each thought is of unusual daring; such as an idle man cannot read, and a timid one would not be entertained by, which even make us dangerous to existing institution — such call I good books. – Henry David Thoreau