"Did you hear them, did you hear these monsters talking about monsters?"

***

"This is the Old and New Testament, and it might be the last copy in this part of the world."

"It's been a long time. I'm not a religious man. But it's been a long time." Faber turned the pages, stopping here and there to read. It's as good as I remember.

Number one: Do you know why books such as this are so important? Because they have quality. And what does the word quality mean? To me it means texture. This book has pores. It has features. This book can go under the microscope. You'd find life under the glass, streaming past in infinite profusion. The more pores, the more truthfully recorded details of life per square inch you can get on a sheet of paper, the more 'literary' you are. That's my definition, anyway. Telling detail. Fresh detail. The good writers touch life often. The mediocre ones run a quick hand over her. The bad ones rape her and leave her for the flies.

Do you know the legend of Hercules and Antaeus, the giant wrestler, whose strength was incredible so long as he stood firmly on the earth? But when he was held, rootless, in midair, by Hercules, he perished easily. If there isn't something in that legend for us today, in this city, in our time, then I am completely insane. Well, there we have the first thing I said we need. Quality, texture of information."

"Would you like to own this?"

Faber said, "I'd give my right arm."

-- Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury

"And more than they, my son, beware; making many books has no end, and studying much is a weariness of the flesh.  The end of the matter, everything having been heard, fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the entire man."

Ecclesiastes, translated by Chabad.org