Jacob Weisberg Quotes

I've been a book collector since I was young, since I was a kid.

I love rare books. Not that I own a lot of them, mind you. You couldn't quite call me a rare-book collector. But I did once work in a rare-books library, and I wrote a novel about a rare book.

I like Victorian children's novels extremely a lot. If I would say I collect anything, that's what I'll hunt for now and again at old book stores.

Your second-hand bookseller is second to none in the worth of the treasures he dispenses.

Sitting with a deck of cards in your hand all day is an obsession. Visiting print shops and bookstores and libraries is an obsession. And writing about this is an obsession. I think, in general, most collectors are obsessed. I think the only form of a rationalized greed is when you're collecting something you are supposedly serious about.

I collect books, primarily first-edition 20th-century fiction.

Despite all the Internet has done to make prices transparent and bibliographic information universal, you can still find - at book sales and thrift shops, auctions and even fancy dealers - unrecognized or underpriced rarities. Getting something valuable for cheap is the basic, greedy thrill of book collecting.

Any given day, you'll find me at secondhand bookstores.

Book collecting is a largely solitary, mostly male, and completely absorbing activity.

I will meet you in the dirtiest city you can dream of. We will drink cocktails so sweet they pucker our cheeks, as we perch on cracked leather bar stools. I will buy you plates of calcium and protein and we will run through the streets in excellent danger.

It's kinda like being on a roller coaster. If you don't get on the ride, you won't experience the adventure.

I think I live such a boring life. But I can't imagine any other kind of life, so I guess it's the life I want.

One of the most exciting moments was standing out on top of the world, 30 seconds before stepping off.

When you're challenged, you're totally alive and totally dealing with reality, particularly if it could be dangerous. And that excites me!

I wanted movement and not a calm course of existence. I wanted excitement and danger and the chance to sacrifice myself for my love.

Boredom is my worst enemy. It's killed a lot of my friends, but it won't get me. When I get bored, I go risk my life somewhere.

Happiness lies only in that which excites, and the only thing that excites is crime.

Why did I rob banks? Because I enjoyed it. I loved it. I was more alive when I was inside a bank, robbing it, than at any other time in my life. I enjoyed everything about it so much that one or two weeks later I'd be out looking for the next job. But to me the money was the chips, that's all.

For sheer excitement you can keep movie premieres and roller-coasters . An empty white canvas waiting to be filled. That's the thing.

A man today never feels so alive as when he is hurtling from one point to another on the azimuth.

I'm not happy unless I've got a little bit of fear going.

Danger is like wine, it goes to your head.

I love getting nervous, because it's also a form of excitement and it makes me feel alive, you know? I like that feeling. I've always liked that feeling. People who don't get nervous before they perform are no fun.

Racing and hunting excite man's heart to madness.

I love rollercoasters, thrill-seeking, all of that is fun.