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Perhaps it is only in childhood that books have any deep influence on our lives. In later life we admire, we are entertained, we may modify some views we already hold, but we are more likely to find in books merely a confirmation of what it is in our minds already; as in a love affair, it is our own features that we see reflected flatteringly back. But in childhood, all books are books of divination, telling us about the future, and like the fortune teller who sees a long journey in the cards or death by water they influence the future. I suppose that is why books excited us so much. What do we ever get nowadays from reading to equal the excitement and the revelation in those first fourteen years?

The Lost Childhood and Other Essays - Graham Greene

He believed that it was not only in Scripture but in the history of his own people and the stories of holy lives that the handwriting of God could be discerned. Reading this handwriting was his own path to sanctity. He is an inspiration to all who follow that path.

— St. Bede the Venerable, Doctor of the Church, in All Saints (1997) by Robert Ellsberg

The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you. Don't go back to sleep.

— Rumi in 365 Days of Wonder: Mr. Browne's Book of Precepts (2014) by R.J. Palacio