Books, like people, can't be reduced to the cost of the materials with which they were made. Books, like people, become unique and precious once you … - Yann Martel

"...I am a person who believes in form, in the harmony of order. Where we can, we must give things a meaningful shape. [...] It is important in life to conclude things properly. Only then you can let go. Otherwise you are left with words you should have said but never did, and your heart is heavy with remorse..."
~Life of Pi, chapter 94

If literature does one thing, it makes you more empathetic by making you live other lives and feel the pain of others. Ideologues don't feel the pain of others because they haven't imaginatively got under their skins.

My ears were full. Nothing more, not one more sound, could push into them and be registered.