That great dust-heap called 'history'.

Any ordinary man can...surround himself with two thousand books...and thenceforward have at least one place in the world in which it is possible to be happy.

A conventional good read is usually a bad read, a relaxing bath in what we know already. A true good read is surely an act of innovative creation in which we, the readers, become conspirators.

A poet's soul must contain the perfect shape of all things good, wise and just. His body must be spotless and without blemish, his life pure, his thoughts high, his studies intense.

Poetry should be vital -- either stirring our blood by its divine movements or snatching our breath by its divine perfection. To do both is supreme glory, to do either is enduring fame.

An ordinary man can surround himself with two thousand books and thenceforward have at least one place in the world in which it is always possible to be happy.

Given Pounds and five years, and an ordinary man can in the ordinary course, without any undue haste or putting any pressure upon his taste, surround himself with books, all in his own language, and thence forward have at least one place in the world.

Milton calls the university A stony-hearted step-mother.

History is the great dust-heap... a pageant and not a philosophy.

Libraries are not made; they grow. Good as it is to inherit a library, it is better to collect one.

History is a pageant and not a philosophy.

Friendship is a word, the very sight of which in print makes the heart warm.

It is the Mass the matters.

Libraries are not made, they grow.

An ordinary man can surround himself with two thousand books and thenceforward have at least one place in the world in which it is possible to be happy.

There are no habits of man more alien to the doctrine of the Communist than those of the collector.

It is pleasant to be admitted into the birth-chamber of a great idea destined to be translated into action.

Good as it is to inherit a library, it is better to collect one.

There were no books in Eden, and there will be none in heaven.

The man who has a library of his own collection is able to contemplate himself objectively, and is justified in believing in his own existence.