The Collector of Burned Books Quotes

“Because words form the foundation of society. Ideas create culture. Control them, and you can control . . . everything.”
― Roseanna M. White, The Collector of Burned Books

“If it were so simple, Goebbels wouldn’t have ordered me here , would he have? If books had no power, they never would have been banned.”
― Roseanna M. White, The Collector of Burned Books

“Books didn’t burn. Books ignited. They lit the burning in others. Not with paper and match. With ideas.”
― Roseanna M. White, The Collector of Burned Books

“These students had it all wrong—backward. Books didn’t burn. Books ignited. They lit the burning in others. Not with paper and match. With ideas.”
― Roseanna M. White, The Collector of Burned Books

“Her best weapons were the books--and she was going to use them well.”
― Roseanna M. White, The Collector of Burned Books

“Ideas cannot be burned. They cannot be destroyed just because a few copies of the book they’re printed in are.”
― Roseanna M. White, The Collector of Burned Books

“Read novels, because they will put you in someone else’s skin. Read poetry, because it will give wings to your soul. Read science, because it will show you what’s possible. Read politics, because it will teach you how strongly people care about how their fellow men are treated, wherever they stand on what the best way is. . . . Read things you hate and things you love and things you never thought you’d understand. And never, never accept the excuse that you’re not strong enough to handle it if you read something that offends you. You are. You’re strong enough to be offended and then try to understand why. You’re strong enough to grant that someone can be different and still be worthy of dignity. And if you aren’t? . . . Then read more, until you are (pp. 315-316).”
― Roseanna M. White, The Collector of Burned Books

“He would tell you to think, next time, before you blindly chase your ideology. He would ask you to think, not just to feel. To ask, always, if you could be wrong. To listen, always listen, to the other points of view. Because the moment we stop granting someone the right to disagree, Kraus, this is what happens. Do you understand me? This is what turns men into tyrants. This is what leads to fear and death (p. 265)”
― Roseanna M. White, The Collector of Burned Books

“There was no such thing, in a good world, as too many libraries.”
― Roseanna M. White, The Collector of Burned Books

“spoiling what came next in a book was surely an unpardonable sin.”
― Roseanna M. White, The Collector of Burned Books

“That the only way to defeat a bully was to win him over. The only way to truly defend what you believe is to make your enemy believe it too. Make him your friend.”
― Roseanna M. White, The Collector of Burned Books

“Refuse to read anything that might be distasteful, and one soon lacked the ability to understand it.”
― Roseanna M. White, The Collector of Burned Books

“When society deliberately cultivated ignorance, they paid the price.”
― Roseanna M. White, The Collector of Burned Books

“...that was the funny thing about books - the more you tried to ban them, the more brightly they burned in the hearts and minds that found them anyway.”
― Roseanna M. White, The Collector of Burned Books

“Censorship,...is as old as time. But...the best cure to any "cancel culture" isn't to argue. It's to read. Read broadly. Read things you don't agree with. Read things you love and read things you hate. Read fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. Read politics and science and religion. Read not to pick apart but to put together. Read, always read to ask, "What if it's true?" Read, and grow, and discover. And if you're not strong enough to take it - then read some more until you are. Read until you understand that other perspective...and until you can love those who hold it. Because you never win by fighting your enemies - only by making them your friends.”
― Roseanna M. White, The Collector of Burned Books

“Civilization wasn’t just built on raw physical power. It was built on strength of character that made people overcome the worst of circumstances.”
― Roseanna M. White, The Collector of Burned Books

“I love you, even when I can’t. I love you, as long as I am.”
― Roseanna M. White, The Collector of Burned Books