The Bookseller's Son Quotes

“Well, there’s The Prophet. She held up the small, khaki-colored book. “Nice,” Jeremiah said. “And Jonathan Livingston Seagull. And The Little Prince.” He looked at Tamika. “Were you just on a philosophical bent when you built this?”
― Bob Seay, The Bookseller's Son

“The idea of casually leaving books out around the apartment felt very “grown up.”
― Bob Seay, The Bookseller's Son

“She would have to buy other under-the-covers favorites later, not to read, but to make her smile when she saw them out in the open on a shelf.”
― Bob Seay, The Bookseller's Son

“When you start something, when you say something, you are responsible for where it goes,” George said. “You are responsible for any damage your words may cause. It doesn’t matter who struck the match.”
― Bob Seay, The Bookseller's Son

“More importantly, books showed me the possibilities for people who did not give up. They inspired me, they taught me, they shaped who I am. Books made me think. Books, more than anything else, made me, me.”
― Bob Seay, The Bookseller's Son

“Students need to read about heroes who look like them, heroes who face the same problems they face. They need books that offer the hope of acceptance, not condemnation for being different.”
― Bob Seay, The Bookseller's Son

“Some books might be inappropriate, but who gets to decide that? And what are the consequences of that decision, for people, communities, or, for that matter, society in general?”
― Bob Seay, The Bookseller's Son

“Like the Malones, Ethan saw the freedom to read as one of the foundations of democracy, the bedrock upon which America was built.”
― Bob Seay, The Bookseller's Son

“friend. But if she learned anything from her years of reading to children, it was that people need to see themselves in the books they read. That was her motivation for working so hard against book bans.”
― Bob Seay, The Bookseller's Son

“He closed the cash register drawer, took a seat in the reading circle, and surveyed his kingdom. Or his prison.”
― Bob Seay, The Bookseller's Son

“Leave my business alone?” Jeremiah laughed. “What are you? Mafia? Klan? What is that even supposed to mean?”
― Bob Seay, The Bookseller's Son

“In the end, books made her realize that her mother was wrong about banning books.”
― Bob Seay, The Bookseller's Son

“Reading opened new worlds to Theresa and challenged her with ideas and perspectives very different from what she heard at home.”
― Bob Seay, The Bookseller's Son

“Books made her realize she was not the only person who felt certain ways, or believed certain things, or who had experienced whatever she was going through at the time. Books made her feel like she was not alone.”
― Bob Seay, The Bookseller's Son

“But she also believes that some books carry such a high potential for violence, or are so morally reprehensible, just so, so wrong, that instead of an inoculation, some people just get an infection.”
― Bob Seay, The Bookseller's Son

“Your father is a free speech absolutist. He believes you should be free to say, print, and read whatever you want. You should be able to write a book about it. It should be available for people to read, if they decide they want to read it.”
― Bob Seay, The Bookseller's Son

“And maybe that was the problem. Not that he didn’t know what to say, but that he was getting comfortable with not saying anything at all.”
― Bob Seay, The Bookseller's Son

“She sat down. “We do it to save ideas that need to be heard. We do this to give a face to people who don’t have a voice. We do this because we are the bookstore.”
― Bob Seay, The Bookseller's Son

“If you want to kill a person,” Ruthanna explained, “you shoot them. If you want to kill a group of people, you simply stop acknowledging their existence.”
― Bob Seay, The Bookseller's Son

“If they can control what you read, then they can control what you think. Then they control what you believe. They will control what you do. Banning books is just the first step of the process.”
― Bob Seay, The Bookseller's Son

“Normal is what the average person can accomplish with little or no effort. Do you really want to be normal?”
― Bob Seay, The Bookseller's Son

“He mourned the loss of his hand more than he grieved the loss of any relationship, with the possible exception of his friendship with Skipper.”
― Bob Seay, The Bookseller's Son

“What’s the point of fighting for free speech if you’re going to ban books you don’t like?”
― Bob Seay, The Bookseller's Son

“For the Malones, Books That Deserve To Be Read wasn’t some gimmick designed to draw in customers. It had become a mission. It was about the fundamental right to free speech, a right he and Tammy were denied when their screenwriter careers were derailed.”
― Bob Seay, The Bookseller's Son

“Books That Deserve To Be Read became the bookstore’s visual centerpiece and its philosophical focus.”
― Bob Seay, The Bookseller's Son

“It’s all within reach,” he told his parents, “as long as I’m not reaching with my right arm.”
― Bob Seay, The Bookseller's Son

“As he grew up with the bookstore, Jeremiah realized that most people had already decided what they wanted to read long before they came in.”
― Bob Seay, The Bookseller's Son

“Proof was not a priority for the Committee on Un-American Activities. Nor were the First, Fourth, or Fifth Amendments to the Constitution.”
― Bob Seay, The Bookseller's Son

“Like creation itself, it was simply spoken into existence.”
― Bob Seay, The Bookseller's Son

“It was also a better fit for how Jeremiah saw himself. Every young man thinks he’s a badass. The military was a chance to prove it.”
― Bob Seay, The Bookseller's Son