All those authors there most of whom of course I've never met. That's the poetry side that's the prose side that's the fishing and miscellaneous behind me. You get an affection for books that you've enjoyed.

I have piles of poetry books in the bathroom on the stairs everywhere. The only way to write poetry is to read it.

The library was open for one hour after school let out. I hid there looking at art books and reading poetry.

I never thought I'd be doing poetry books. I never really studied poetry. But the first one I did was after my mother died and I realized that people sort of think and talk about her style and fashion but in fact what made her the person she was was really her love of reading and ideas.

When I was in the Peace Corps I never made a phone call. I was in Central Africa I didn't make a phone call for two years. I was in Uganda for another four years and I didn't make a phone call. So for six years I didn't make a phone call but I wrote letters I wrote short stories I wrote books.

A book is a fragile creature it suffers the wear of time it fears rodents the elements and clumsy hands. so the librarian protects the books not only against mankind but also against nature and devotes his life to this war with the forces of oblivion.

Where is human nature so weak as in the bookstore?

Nature and books belong to the eyes that see them.

A morning-glory at my window satisfies me more than the metaphysics of books.

Earth and sky woods and fields lakes and rivers the mountain and the sea are excellent schoolmasters and teach some of us more than we can ever learn from books.

There are certain pieces of music that are always attached to certain books.

Those who decide to use leisure as a means of mental development who love good music good books good pictures good plays good company good conversation - what are they? They are the happiest people in the world.

I'm clearly most well known for my music. Eventually ultimately I'll be writing books. I'm still writing articles now. I just consider myself a writer.

I'm always happy when I hear about people selling records or selling books or selling movies. It makes me proud of them.

Books and movies are different art forms with different rules. And because of that they never translate exactly.

I do other sorts of things. I act in other people's movies. I direct operas. I write books.

Frank is such a great visual storyteller that if you study his artwork you see that his Sin City books are already the best movies never seen on the big screen.

I enjoy about 1 out of 100 movies it's about the same proportion to books published that I care to read.

The way I look at it movies are a different medium for storytelling than books.

Well it was actually - I brought the idea of doing a documentary to HBO back in 2000 when there were some press reports sort of were bandied about that there were going to TV movies based on some of the books that were out.

Even if we die at 100 we're still dying young. I want at least 700 years. There's a lot of travelling and books to read and movies to see. I'm not going to squeeze it all in in 85 years.

I love watching the Bond movies obviously and I grew up reading the books as a kid. I've always loved them because of that.

But then I go through long periods where I don't listen to things usually when I'm working. In between the records and in between the writing I suck up books and music and movies and anything I can find.

The movies I watch and the music I listen to and the books I read - those are important to me. It's very important to me and I don't know what I would do without those things.