"Lord!" he said, "when you sell a man a book you don't sell him just twelve ounces of paper and ink and glue-you sell him a whole new life. Love and friendship and humour and ships and sea by night-there's all heaven and earth in a book, a real book I mean. Jiminy! If I were the baker or the butcher or the broom huckster, people would run to the gate when I came by-just waiting for my stuff. And here I go loaded with everlasting salvation-yes, ma'am, salvation for their little, stunted minds-and it's hard to make 'em see it. That's what makes it worth while-I'm doing something that nobody else from Nazareth, Maine, to Walla Walla, Washington, has ever thought of. It's a new field, but by the bones of Whitman it's worth while. That's what this country needs-more books!"
-Parnassus on Wheels by Christopher Morley
I read The Haunted Bookshop and loved it. This one is on my list as well. Great Quote!
Yayyy! Right on!
Amanda! I had The Haunted Bookshop out from the library but saw when I opened it that it was the sequel to Parnassus. So I had to read Parnassus first. I'm going to reget THB though. I really loved Parnassus.
I have seen this quote before. This book seems to just pop up all over the place. I guess I need to add it to my list!