Many a book is like a key to unknown chambers within the castle of one’s own self.

We need the books that affect us like a disaster, that grieve us deeply, like the death of someone we loved more than ourselves, like being banished into forests far from everyone, like a suicide. A book must be the axe for the frozen sea inside us.

I think we ought to read only the kind of books that wound and stab us. If the book we’re reading doesn’t wake us up with a blow on the head, what are we reading it for?

A book must be the axe for the frozen sea within us.

Books are a narcotic.

I think we ought to read only the kind of books that wound and stab us.

Ein Buch muß die Axt sein für das gefrorene Meer in uns.

The door could not be heard slamming; they had probably left it open, as is the custom in homes where a great misfortune has occurred.

I believe that we should only read those books that bite and sting us. If a book does not rouse us with a blow then why read it?