Notable Quote: Life among the Books

I came across this marvelous quote by St. Jerome, the fourth century translator of the Bible into Latin, commonly known as the Vulgate translation.  The quote was written to a friend and is actually referring to the scriptures, but it applies to all worthy works of literature.

I beg of you dear brother to live among these books, to meditate upon them, to know nothing else, to seek nothing else.  Does not such a life seem to you a foretaste of heaven here on earth?

        -St. Jerome