The argument of this book is that we, and all other animals, are machines created by our genes.
Books Quotes
Samuel Johnson is on this page more than once for good reason. In The Rambler (1750) he wrote that no place gives a more striking conviction of the vanity of human hopes than a public library. Boswell (1791) has him saying that a man ought to read just as inclination leads him, because what he reads as a task will do him little good. Alberto Manguel, Emerson and Northrop Frye are among the most-quoted writers here, which is what you would expect from people who spent their working lives reading.
Two entries are flagged as misattributed. The quip about a manuscript that is both good and original, with the good parts not original and the original parts not good, is credited to Johnson. “Rommel, you magnificent bastard! I read your book!” is credited to General Patton.
A book may be very amusing with numerous errors, or it may be very dull without a single absurdity.
Destiny gave me only two things: a few accounting books and the gift of dreaming.
To all those who by accident or design, have not been included in this book.
Books let us into their souls and lay open to us the secrets of our own.
You don't have to burn books to destroy a culture. Just get people to stop reading them.
The setup of the book as far as printing and paper are concerned is splendid.
When a book and a head collide and a hollow sound is heard, must it always have come from the book?
Thousands, careless of the damning sin,
Kiss the book's outside who ne'er look within.