It has always been my experience that, whatever groupings I choose for my books, the space in which I plan to lodge them necessarily reshapes my choice and, more important, in no time proves too small for them and forces me to change my arrangement. In a library, no empty shelf remains empty for long. Like Nature, libraries abhor a vacuum, and the problem of space is inherent in the very nature of any collection of books.
Interpretation
Books require space and organization, and libraries reflect the evolving nature of our collections.
Alberto Manguel's quote emphasizes the dynamic relationship between books and the spaces they inhabit. He suggests that libraries, much like nature, resist emptiness; they adapt and grow, requiring constant reorganization as new books are added. This highlights the importance of consideration for space in any collection and reflects the ever-present demand for knowledge and literature.
In practice
In a speech about the importance of libraries, you could cite this quote to illustrate how books fill spaces and minds.
The stories that unfold in the space of a writer's study, the objects chosen to watch over a desk, the books selected to sit on the shelves, all weave a web of echoes and reflections of meanings and affections, that lend a visitor the illusion that something of the owner of this space lives on between these walls, even if the owner is no more.
From fire, water, the passage of time, neglectful readers, and the hand of the censor, each of my books has escaped to tell me its story.
One book calls to another unexpectedly, creating alliances across different cultures and centuries.
My books hold between their covers every story I've ever known and still remember, or have now forgotten, or may one day read; they fill the space around me with ancient and new voices.
A society can exist - many do exist - without writing, but no society can exist without reading.
I have no feelings of guilt regarding the books I have not read and perhaps will never read; I know that my books have unlimited patience. They will wait for me till the end of my days.
When I read about the way in which library funds are being cut and cut, I can only think that American society has found one more way to destroy itself.
To read is to have experiences; every book changes my life at least a little bit. The first time I can remember this happening was when I was 10, with a biography of Thomas Edison.
I had never seen a white teacher before, but Mrs. Henry was the nicest teacher I ever had.
It was the kind of library he had only read about in books.
You don't teach morals and ethics and empathy and kindness in the schools. You teach that at home, and children learn by example.
When I consider what some books have done for the world, and what they are doing, how they keep up our hope, awaken new courage and faith, soothe pain, give an ideal life those whose hours are cold and hard, bind together distant ages and foreign lands, create new worlds of beauty, bring down truth from heaven; I give eternal blessings for this gift, and thank God for books.
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