Books are the carriers of civilization. Without books, history is
silent, literature dumb, science crippled, thought and speculation at a
standstill. Without books, the development of civilization would have
been impossible. They are engines of change (as the poet said), windows
on the world and lighthouses erected in the sea of time. They are
companions, teachers, magicians, bankers of the treasures of the mind.
Books are humanity in print. - Barbara Tuchman
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