Without libraries what have we? We have no past and no future

Without libraries what have we? We have no past and no future

What a place to be in is an old library! It seems as though all
the souls of all read more

What a place to be in is an old library! It seems as though all
the souls of all the writers that have bequeathed their labours
to these Bodleians were reposing here as in some dormitory, or
middle state. I do not want to handle, to profane the leaves,
their winding-sheets. I could as soon dislodge a shade. I seem
to inhale learning, walking amid their foliage; and the odor of
their old moth-scented coverings is fragrant as the first bloom
of those sciential apples which grew amid the happy orchard.
- Charles Lamb (used pseudonym Elia),

A library is an arsenal of liberty.

A library is an arsenal of liberty.

The medicine chest of the soul.

The medicine chest of the soul.

Thou can'st not die. Here thou art more than safe
Where every book is thy epitaph.

Thou can'st not die. Here thou art more than safe
Where every book is thy epitaph.

All round the room my silent servants wait,
My friends in every season, bright and dim.

All round the room my silent servants wait,
My friends in every season, bright and dim.

A public library is the most enduring of memorials, the trustiest monument for the preservation of an event or a read more

A public library is the most enduring of memorials, the trustiest monument for the preservation of an event or a name or an affection; for it, and it only, is respected by wars and revolutions, and survives them

A circulating library in a town is as an evergreen tree of
diabolical knowledge.

A circulating library in a town is as an evergreen tree of
diabolical knowledge.

To a historian libraries are food, shelter, and even muse.

To a historian libraries are food, shelter, and even muse.