More on this book
Community
Kindle Notes & Highlights
“Libraries should be open to all—except the censor. We must know all the facts and hear all the alternatives and listen to all the criticisms. Let us welcome controversial books and controversial authors.” – John F. Kennedy, October 29, 1960.
‘More powerful than armies and police, stronger than guns and bombs, words are what change the world, and that is why they’re always a threat to those that rule with corrupt ways.’
They monitor people like you because you’re something far more dangerous than a terrorist. You’re a writer with the power to influence people.” “A writer can only spread ideas. People still need to think about them, draw their own conclusions,”
Don’t you see how tempting it is? They can change everything if there are no physical books to verify what was actually written. And not only that, they know everything we’ve read. What we haven’t read, what page we stopped on, what words you looked up, everything, everyone has read‒‒”
She was more than a person. Harper was part of nature the way rain and wind are. She was an experience, and everyone she knew swam in her existence.”
The AOI traced every sentence read, when a reader started or stopped, what they highlighted. In 2098, there is no privacy, and secrets are only good for a trip to prison or a death sentence.
“Charles Dickens,” he began in a whisper. “What?” Nelson asked, thinking Runit had said, “Call all chickens.”
“But if the world isn’t what it appears, if something is wrong and we can fix it, I’d rather be brave and true than safe.”
The world was about to change and all because of some library books.
“Books are more than words, they’re dreams, ideas, and answers, and that is why they fear them,”
“Some books are so alive that they never leave you. They only change you.”
In truth, a library contains the entire universe, and each book is a portal to a different world.” “That’s exactly why they want it destroyed,” Chelle said. “There’s too much at stake if we learn too much.”
“An ebook is like having a photo of a dead loved one. It’s convenient to look at and it will stir the mind, but it doesn’t breathe.”
The future was at risk without the knowledge from the past,
“Only the dead have seen the end of war.”
A corrupt leader needs to control what the people think so they don’t revolt. There are three ways to do that: don’t allow them to learn anything that counters the official line, bombard them with propaganda disguised as news, and finally, give them a distraction, usually an enemy.”
“Could you tell me, Polis Drast, what is it like to be deficient in intelligence?” Drast could have grown angrier. Instead he laughed. “You’ll never know.” “Of course, you’re quite correct.”
You thought we were just saving the last books made of paper from the flames. But now you understand. The fire will take far more than our history, the thoughts, and ideas of great minds . . . If the books are burned, we don’t just lose words, we lose the truth.”
“Peace at gunpoint is not peace.”
Not loving her was kind of like not breathing, but only the latter would happen when he died.
At what cost will this victory come?” “Victory always costs more than defeat, and change often commands a high price.”
Buying a brain isn’t the same as earning one.”
Dwight Eisenhower’s warning, “Don't join the book burners. Don't think you're going to conceal faults by concealing evidence that they ever existed. Don't be afraid to go in your library and read every book...”
Corrupt people fear books because they contain something more powerful than themselves: ideas. What were they afraid of?
