In every town we lived in, there was one great big door ready to open for anyone — the library. And I never met a library I didn’t like.

I saw the world as vast and magical with so many cultures and people. It opened me up and made me very adaptable to change. It also meant that I was not afraid to be in strange places, to experience and to learn.

I was surprised, as always, by how easy the act of leaving was, and how good it felt. The world was suddenly rich with possibility.

Nothing excited me more than opening up the atlas and seeing places and seas, imagining what they looked like and what kind of life the people had.

I believe if you can have an open dialogue about anything, whether it's a book or a movie or TV show, it's this door that suddenly opens your mind to new ideas.

On that day, the library was transformed from a confusing and intimidating collection of books into a thousand different portals through time and space to fantastic worlds for me to explore.*

There was such a sense of liberation and opening that sort of space that had been closed off so completely under Apartheid – no light, no oxygen – it really opened and expanded and into that came so much publishing and writing.

I have always loved a window, especially an open one.

The works of God, I always felt, were given freely to anyone who could appreciate them whether millionaire or pauper…

The revolution opened doors for us and allowed an enormous social mobility. Many walls that blocked communication were demolished, and taboos were cast out.

The place was part museum, part library, and part archive; I loved it at first sight...and smell, for here there were thousands of printed books, many very old indeed, and nothing smells quite as wonderful as old books.

A kind of light spread out from her. And everything changed color. And the world opened out. And a day was good to awaken to. And there were no limits to anything. And the people of the world were good and handsome. And I was not afraid any more.

Besides that, I wanted to give opportunity to others since I was given chance to realize my dream at the start.

I find that when you open the door toward openness and transparency, a lot of people will follow you through.