The greatest gift is the passion for reading. It is cheap, it consoles, it distracts, it excites, it gives you read more

The greatest gift is the passion for reading. It is cheap, it consoles, it distracts, it excites, it gives you knowledge of the world and experience of a wide kind. It is a moral illumination.

There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book. Books are well written, or badly written.

There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book. Books are well written, or badly written.

The printing press is either the greatest blessing or the greatest curse of modern times, sometimes one forgets which it read more

The printing press is either the greatest blessing or the greatest curse of modern times, sometimes one forgets which it is.

The Wise
(Minstrel or Sage,) out of their books are clay;
But in their books, as from read more

The Wise
(Minstrel or Sage,) out of their books are clay;
But in their books, as from their graves they rise.
Angels--that, side by side, upon our way,
Walk with and warn us!

Fiction reveals truth that reality obscures.

Fiction reveals truth that reality obscures.

Book lovers will understand me, and they will know too that part of the pleasure of a library lies in read more

Book lovers will understand me, and they will know too that part of the pleasure of a library lies in its very existence

That place that does contain
My books, the best companions, is to me
A glorious court, where read more

That place that does contain
My books, the best companions, is to me
A glorious court, where hourly I converse
With the old sages and philosophers;
And sometimes, for variety, I confer
With kings and emperors, and weigh their counsels;
Calling their victories, if unjustly got,
Unto a strict account, and, in my fancy,
Deface their ill-placed statues.

I am like a book, with pages that have stuck together for want of use: my mind needs unpacking and read more

I am like a book, with pages that have stuck together for want of use: my mind needs unpacking and the truths stored within must be turned over from time to time, to be ready when occasion demands

Old books that have ceased to be of service should no more be abandoned than should old friends who have read more

Old books that have ceased to be of service should no more be abandoned than should old friends who have ceased to give pleasure.