A Quote That Slapped Me

A book no more contains reality than a clock measures so-called time; a book may create an illusion of reality as a clock creates an illusion of time; a book may be real, just as a clock is real (both more real, perhaps, than those ideas to which they allude); but let’s not kid ourselves—all a clock contains is wheels and springs and all a book contains is sentences.
- Tom Robbins, Even Cowgirls Get the Blues