How we cite our quotes: (Preface if applicable, Paragraph)
Quote #1
The books constantly increased, for besides bringing whole armfuls back with him from the libraries he was always getting parcels of them by post. [...] Many of the books, however, were not of a scholarly nature. The majority were works of the poets of all times and peoples. (Preface 23)
This bit of characterization shows us that Harry is a bookworm, sure, but we also get the idea that he is obsessed with poetry and knowing everything about culture. In just a few short sentences we know what is important to this character, which will later be one of his biggest misunderstandings that has to be cleared up in the Magic Theater.
Quote #2
After the Handel came a little symphony by Friedemann Bach, and I saw with surprise how after a few bars my stranger began to smile and abandon himself to the music. He was completely absorbed in himself, and for about ten minutes so happily lost and rapt in pleasant dreams that I paid more attention to him than the music. (Preface 36)
When the narrator of the preface follows Harry to a concert we get a taste of Harry's connection to music—it seems like his only escape from his sad, suicidal existence.
Quote #3
"There I was, sitting with people as one of themselves and believing that they thought of Goethe as I did and had the same picture of him in their minds as I, and there stood that tasteless, false, and sickly affair and they thought it lovely and had not the least idea that the spirit of that picture and the spirit of Goethe were exact opposites. (144)
Uh-oh! Someone's getting a little selfish about his Goethe! Harry is revealing the know-it-all side of his personality that doesn't let other people hold opinions on the things that he is supposedly an expert in.