'Tis pleasant sure to see one's name in print; A book's a book, although there's nothing in't. .. BYRON--English Bards and Scotch Reviewers. Line 51. All that Mankind has done, thought, gained or been** is lying as in magic preservation in the pages of Books. They are the chosen possession of men. b. CARLYLE-Heroes and Hero Worship. Lecture V. If a book come from the heart, it will contrive to reach other hearts; all art and authorcraft are of small amount to that. C. CARLYLE-Heroes and Hero Worship. Lecture II. If time is precious, no book that will not improve by repeated readings deserves to be read at all. d. CARLYLE-Essays. Goethe's Helena. In the poorest cottage are Books: is one Book, wherein for several thousands of years the spirit of man has found light, and nourishment, and an interpreting response to whatever is Deepest in him. If e. CARLYLE-Essays. Corn-Law Rhymes. God be thanked for books. They are the voices of the distant and the dead, and make us heirs of the spiritual life of past ages. Books are the true levellers. They give to all, who will faithfully use them, the society, the spiritual presence of the best and greatest of our race. No matter how poor I am, no matter though the prosperous of my own time will not enter my obscure dwelling. the sacred writers will enter and take up their abode under my roof, if Milton will cross my threshold to sing to me of Paradise, and Shakespeare, to open to me the worlds of imagination and the workings of the human heart, and Franklin to enrich me with his practical wisdom, I shall not pine fɔr want of intellectual companionship, and I may become a cultivated man though excluded from what is called the best society, in the place where I live. ƒ. CHANNING-On Self-Culture. It is chiefly through books that we enjoy intercourse with superior minds, and these invaluable means of communication are in the reach of all. In the best books, great men talk to us, give us their most precious thoughts, and pour their souls into ours. g. CHANNING-On Self-Culture. And as for me, though than I konne but lyte, On bokes for to rede I me delyte, And to hem yeve I feyth and ful credence, And in myn herte have hem in reverence So hertely, that ther is game noon, That fro my bokes maketh me to goon, But yt be seldome on the holy day, Save, certeynly, whan that the monthe of May Is comen, and that I here the foules synge, And that the floures gynnen for to sprynge, Farwel my boke, and my devocion. h. CHAUCER-Legende of Goode Women. Prologue. Line 29. It is saying less than the truth to affirm, that an excellent book (and the remark holds almost equally good of a Raphael as of a Milton) is like a well-chosen and well-tended fruit tree. Its fruits are not of one season only. With the due and natural intervals, we may recur to it year after year, and it will supply the same nourishment and the same gratification, if only we ourselves return to it with the same healthful appetite. j. COLERIDGE-Literary Remains. Prospectus of Lectures. Books should, not business, entertain the light, And sleep, as undisturb'd as death, the night. COWLEY-Of Myself. k. For wisdom, piety, delight, or use. 0. Sir JOHN DENHAM-Of Prudence. Lights who beam'd through many ages! .. ISAAC DISRAELI- Curiosities of Literature. The Bibliomania. Living more with books than with men, which is often becoming better acquainted with man himself, though not always with men, the man of letters is more tolerant of opinions than opinionists are among themselves. T. ISAAC DISRAELI--Literary Character of Men of Genius. Ch. XXI. Living with Books. Books are necessary to correct the vices of the polite; but those vices are ever changing, and the antidote should be changed accordingly-should still be new. h. GOLDSMITH-The Citizen of the World. Letter LXXV. I armed her against the censures of the world, showed her that books were sweet unreproaching companions to the miserable, and that if they could not bring us to enjoy life, they would at least teach us to endure it. i. GOLDSMITH-Vicar of Wakefield. Ch. XXII. In proportion as society refines, new books must ever become more necessary. I have even gained the most profit, and the most pleasure also, from the books which have made me think the most: and, when the difficulties have once been overcome, these are the books which have struck the deepest root, not only in my memory and understanding, but likewise in my affections. 1. J. C. and A. W. HARE-Guesses at Truth. Starres are poore books, and oftentimes do misse; This book of starres lights to eternal blisse. HERBERT-The Temple. The Holy Scriptures. Thou art a plant sprung up to wither never, But, like a laurell, to grow green for ever. HERRICK-Hesperides. To His Booke. m. n. p. Inscription over the door of the Library at Thebes. Diodorus Simlus. 1. Books have always a secret influence on the understanding; we cannot at pleasure obliterate ideas: he that reads books of science, though without any desire of improvement, will grow more knowing; he that entertains himself with moral or religious treatises, will imperceptibly advance in goodness; the ideas which are often offered to the mind, will at last find a lucky moment when it is disposed to receive them. SAM'L JOHNSON--The Adventurer. q. Upon thy well-made choice of friends and books; Then do I love thee, and behold thy ends In making thy friends books, and thy books friends. S. BEN JONSON--Epigram 86. Books which are no books. t. LAMB-Detached Thoughts on Books and Reading. I love to lose myself in other men's minds. When I am not walking, I am reading; I cannot sit and think. Books think for me. LAMB-Detached Thoughts on Books and Reading. u. A book is a friend whose face is constantly changing. If you read it when you are recovering from an illness, and return to it years after, it is changed surely, with the change in yourself. υ. ANDREW LANG-The Library. Ch. I. As companions and acquaintances books are without rivals; and they are companions and acquaintances to be had at all times and under all circumstances. They are never out when you knock at the door; are never "not at home" when you call. In the lightest as well as in the deepest moods they may be applied to, and will never be found wanting. In the good sense of the phrase, they are all things to all men, and are faithful alike to all. a. LANGFORD-The Praise of Books. Preliminary Essay. As friends and companions, as teachers and consolers, as recreators and amusers books are always with us, and always ready to respond to our wants. We can take them with us in our wanderings, or gather them around us at our firesides. In the lonely wilderness, and the crowded city, their spirit will be with us, giving a meaning to the seemingly confused movements of humanity, and peopling the desert with their own bright creations. b. LANGFORD--The Praise of Books. Preliminary Essay. A wise man will select his books, for he would not wish to class them all under the sacred name of friends. Some can be accepted only as acquaintances. The best books of all kinds are taken to the heart, and cherished as his most precious possessions. Others to be chatted with for a time, to spend a few pleasant hours with, and laid aside, but not forgotten. C. LANGFORD--The Praise of Books. Preliminary Essay. Books are also among man's truest consolers. In the hour of affliction, trouble, or sorrow, he can turn to them with confidence and trust. Books are friends, and what friends they are! Their love is deep and unchanging; their patience inexhaustible; their gentleness perennial; their forbearance unbounded; and their sympathy without selfishness. Strong as man, and tender as woman, they welcome you in every mood, and never turn from you in distress. e. LANGFORD-The Praise of Books. Books are friends which every man may call his own. * * The friendship of books never dies; it grows by use, increases by distribution, and possesses an immortality of perpetual youth. It is the friendship, not of "dead things" but of ever-living souls; and books are friends who, under no circumstances, are ever applied to in vain. They can be relied on, whoever else, or whatever else may fail. f. LANGFORD-The Praise of Books. Preliminary Essay. (Minstrel and Sage,) out of their books are clay; But in their books, as from their graves they m. BULWER-LYTTON-The Soul of Books. We call some books immortal! Do they live? n. The Tempest. Act V. Sc. 1. I had rather than forty shillings, i. The Merry Wives of Windsor. Act I. Sc. 1. Keep thy pen from lender's books, and defy the foul fiend. j. King Lear. Act III. Sc. 4. Knowing I lov'd my books, he furnished me with volumes that I prize above my dukedom. k. The Tempest. Act I. Sc. 2. O, let my books be then the eloquence More than that tongue that more hath more express'd. 2. Sonnet XXIII. Dictionary. Books. Sec. 1. It is with books as with men; a very small number play a great part; the rest are confounded with the multitude. v. VOLTAIRE-A Philosophical Dictionary. Books. Sec. 1. You despise books; you whose whole lives are absorbed in the vanities of ambition, the pursuit of pleasure, or in indolence; but remember that all the known world, excepting only savage nations, is governed by books. VOLTAIRE--A Philosophical w. Dictionary. Books. Sec. 1. They are for company the best friends in Doubts Counsellors, in Damps Comforters, Time's Prospective, the Home Traveller's Ship or Horse, the busie Man's best Recreation, the Opiate of idle Weariness, the Mindes best Ordinary, Nature's Garden and Seed-plot of Immortality. x. BULSTRODE WHITELOCK-Zootamia. 1654. Books, we know, Are a substantial world, both pure and good: Round these, with tendrils strong as flesh and blood, Our pastime and our happiness will grow. y. WORDSWORTH-Poetical Works. Personal Talk. Some future strain, in which the muse shall tell How science dwindles, and how volumes swell. How commentators each dark passage shun, Line 94. |