You can't guarantee things like that! After all, when we had all the books we needed, we still insisted on finding the highest cliff to jump off. But… - Ray Bradbury

The books are to remind us what asses and fools we are.

He was not happy. He was not happy. He said the words to himself. He recognized this as the true state of affairs. He wore his happiness like a mask and the girl had run off across the lawn with the mask and there was no way of going to knock on her door and ask for it back.

"They walked still farther and the girl said, "Is it true that long ago firemen put fires out instead of going to start them?"
No. Houses have always been fireproof, take my word for it."
Strange. I heard once that a long time ago houses used to burn by accident and they needed firemen to stop the flames.

I didn’t write Fahrenheit 451 about us. I wrote it about Stalin and Mussolini and Hitler. … I may not even talk about book banning if I don’t feel like it. I don’t prepare anything ahead. I have a dozen subjects to talk about because I write plays and poetry and essays, short stories and novels and screenplays and teleplays and operas. I’ll get lost, and the audience will have a wonderful time. And I’ll get a standing ovation, and they’ll go home.