Good as it is to inherit a library, it is better to collect one.
An ordinary man can surround himself with two thousand books and thenceforward have at least one place in the world in which it is always possible to be happy.
Reading is not a duty, and has consequently no business to be made disagreeable.
It is the Mass that matters.
There were no books in Eden, and there will be none in heaven.
There are no habits of man more alien to the doctrine of the Communist than those of the collector.
Personally, I am dead against the burning of books.
It can never be wrong to give pleasure.
Poetry should be vital – either stirring our blood by its divine movements or snatching our breath by its divine perfection. To do both is supreme glory, to do either is enduring fame.
A poet’s soul must contain the perfect shape of all things good, wise and just. His body must be spotless and without blemish, his life pure, his thoughts high, his studies intense.
Great is bookishness and the charm of books.
It is pleasant to be admitted into the birth-chamber of a great idea destined to be translated into action.
The man who has a library of his own collection is able to contemplate himself objectively, and is justified in believing in his own existence.
Is this true or only clever?
History is a pageant and not a philosophy.
Few men can afford to be angry.
Milton calls the university A stony-hearted step-mother.
Given Pounds and five years, and an ordinary man can in the ordinary course, without any undue haste or putting any pressure upon his taste, surround himself with books, all in his own language, and thence forward have at least one place in the world.
A great library easily begets affection, which may deepen into love.