451

If they give you ruled paper, write the other way.
~Juan Ramón Jiménez

This quote is one Ray Bradbury attached to the story and it is found after the table of contents and before the story begins. It means to think for yourself; do not follow the rules or laws just because you are told to do so. In Fahrenheit 451, Bradbury warns people not to become, like the character of Faber, complacent. He tells the reader to read, learn, and think. "Ruled paper" means paper with lines on it. A person will usually write on those lines, no matter how large or small the person's handwriting might be - thus conforming to the standards imposed by those lines. The quote says to write how YOU want to write and where you want to write. It's an overly simplistic presentation of Bradbury's idea presented in the book perhaps, but it is meant to get across the point of thinking for oneself unlike most of the people of the society in which the story takes place. Those people just followed the trends and then became a doomed society that will be bombed into oblivion by the end of the book.