Books

"Go now, my little book, to every place Where my first pilgrim has but shown his face. Call at their door: if any say "Who's there?" Then answer thou "Christiana is here.""

"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."

"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."

"Go, litel boke! go litel myn tregedie!"

"O little booke, thou art so unconning, How darst thou put thyself in prees for dred?"

"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, when 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."

"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."

"Books should, not Business, entertain the Light; And Sleep, as undisturb'd as Death, the Night."

"The monument of vanished mindes."

"Give me a book that does my soul embrace And makes simplicity a grace— Language freely flowing, thoughts as free— Such pleasing books more taketh me Than all the modern works of art That please mine eyes and not my heart."

"Books should to one of these four ends conduce, For wisdom, piety, delight, or use."

"He ate and drank the precious words, His spirit grew robust; He knew no more that he was poor, Nor that his frame was dust. He danced along the dingy days, And this bequest of wings Was but a book. What liberty A loosened spirit brings!"

"There is no frigate like a book To take us lands away, Nor any coursers like a page Of prancing poetry. This traverse may the poorest take Without oppress of toll; How frugal is the chariot That bears a human soul."

"Golden volumes! richest treasures, Objects of delicious pleasures! You my eyes rejoicing please, You my hands in rapture seize! Brilliant wits and musing sages, Lights who beam'd through many ages! Left to your conscious leaves their story, And dared to trust you with their glory; And now their hope of fame achiev'd, Dear volumes! you have not deceived!"

"Homo unius libri, or, cave ab homine unius libri."

"Not as ours the books of old— Things that steam can stamp and fold; Not as ours the books of yore— Rows of type, and nothing more."

"The spectacles of books."

"Of making many books there is no end; and much study is a weariness of the flesh."

"Books are the best things, well used: abused, among the worst."

"In every man's memory, with the hours when life culminated are usually associated certain books which met his views."

"There are many virtues in books, but the essential value is the adding of knowledge to our stock by the record of new facts, and, better, by the record of intuitions which distribute facts, and are the formulas which supersede all histories."

"We prize books, and they prize them most who are themselves wise."

"The princeps copy, clad in blue and gold."

"Now cheaply bought, for thrice their weight in gold."

"How pure the joy when first my hands unfold The small, rare volume, black with tarnished gold."

"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."

"In proportion as society refines, new books must ever become more necessary."

"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 have ever 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."

"Thou art a plant sprung up to wither never, But, like a laurell, to grow green forever."

"The foolishest book is a kind of leaky boat on a sea of wisdom; some of the wisdom will get in anyhow."

"Dear little child, this little book Is less a primer than a key To sunder gates where wonder waits Your "Open Sesame!""

"Medicine for the soul."

"Now go, write it before them in a table, and note it in a book."

"Oh that my words were now written! oh that they were printed in a book!"

"My desire is … that mine adversary had written a book."

"Blest be the hour wherein I bought this book; His studies happy that composed the book, And the man fortunate that sold the book."

"Pray thee, take care, that tak'st my book in hand, To read it well; that is to understand."

"What a blessing it is to love books as I love them;- to be able to converse with the dead, and to live amidst the unreal!"

"In omnibus requiem quæsivi Et non inveni Nisi seorsim sedans In angulo cum libello."

"Every age hath its book."

"Books which are no books."

"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 chance in yourself."

"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."

"The love of books is a love which requires neither justification, apology, nor defence."

"The pleasant books, that silently among Our household treasures take familiar places, And are to us as if a living tongue Spake from the printed leaves or pictured faces!"

"Leaving us heirs to amplest heritages Of all the best thoughts of the greatest sages, And giving tongues unto the silent dead!"

"When I would know thee * * * my thought looks 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."

"What I like in a good author is not what he says, but what he whispers."

"Protect me from oil, water, insects and loose bonding, and above all, O Lord, protect me from falling into the hands of a fool."