Why You Should Read Children's Books, Even Though You Are So Old and Wise

“Children's novels...spoke and still speak of hope. They say: look, this is what bravery looks like. This is what generosity looks like. They tell me, through the medium of wizards and lions and talking spiders, that this world we live in is a world of people who tell jokes and work and endure. Children's books say: the world is huge. They say: hope counts for something. They say: bravery will matter, wit will matter, empathy will matter, love will matter. These things may or may not be true. I do not know. I hope they are. I think it is urgently necessary to hear them and to speak them.”

“I still find libraries astonishing; I still think they speak to our better instincts. The library remains one of the few places in the world where you don't have to buy anything, know anyone or believe anything to enter in.”

Elena Ferrante calls fiction “a fishing net that captures daily experiences, holds them imaginatively, and connects them to fundamental questions about the human condition.”

Scene from 1949 movie Adam's Rib:
Katherine Hepburn questions her secretary about the moral double stands of the day. Her secretary says, “I don't make the rules.” “Sure you do,” says Hepburn. “We All do.