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.

One can live with the thought of one's own death. It is the thought of the death of the words read more

One can live with the thought of one's own death. It is the thought of the death of the words and books that is terrifying for that is the deeper extinction.

A real book is not one that we read, but one that reads us.

A real book is not one that we read, but one that reads us.

Ideally a book would have no order to it, and the reader would have to discover his own.

Ideally a book would have no order to it, and the reader would have to discover his own.

Books are the quietest and most constant of friends; they are the most accessible and wisest of counselors, and the read more

Books are the quietest and most constant of friends; they are the most accessible and wisest of counselors, and the most patient of teachers.

The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who can't read them.

The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who can't read them.

An art book is a museum without walls.

An art book is a museum without walls.

In you are sent
The types of Truths whose life is The To Come;
In you soars read more

In you are sent
The types of Truths whose life is The To Come;
In you soars up the Adam from the fall;
In you the Future as the Past is given--
Ev'n in our death ye bid us hail our birth;--
Unfold these pages, and behold the Heaven,
Without one grave-stone left upon the Earth.

Readers are plentiful: thinkers are rare.

Readers are plentiful: thinkers are rare.