p. Inscription over the door of the Library at Thebes. Diodorus Simlus. 1. Books have always a secret influence on the understanding; we cannot at pleasure obliterate ideas: he that reads books of science, though without any desire of improvement, will grow more knowing; he that entertains himself with moral or religious treatises, will imperceptibly advance in goodness; the ideas which are often offered to the mind, will at last find a lucky moment when it is disposed to receive them. q. SAM'L JOHNSON--The Adventurer. As companions and acquaintances books are without rivals; and they are companions and acquaintances to be had at all times and under all circumstances. They are never out when you knock at the door; are never "not at home when you call. In the lightest as well as in the deepest moods they may be applied to, and will never be found wanting. In the good sense of the phrase, they are all things to all men, and are faithful alike to all. а. LANGFORD-The Praise of Books. Preliminary Essay. As friends and companions, as teachers and consolers, as recreators and amusers books are always with us, and always ready to respond to our wants. We can take them with us in our wanderings, or gather them around us at our firesides. In the lonely wilderness, and the crowded city, their spirit will be with us, giving a meaning to the seemingly confused movements of humanity, and peopling the desert with their own bright creations. b. LANGFORD--The Praise of Books. Preliminary Essay. 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. C. LANGFORD--The Praise of Books. Preliminary Essay. Books are also among man's truest consolers. In the hour of affliction, trouble, or sorrow, he can turn to them with confidence and trust. But in their books, as from their graves they m. BULWER-LYTTON-The Soul of Books. We call some books immortal! Do they live? n. St. 3. As you grow ready for it, somewhere or other you will find what is neediul for you in a book. GEORGE MACDONALD-The Marquis of Lossie. Ch. XLII. 0. A good book is the precious lifeblood of a masterspirit, embalmed and treasured up on purpose to a life beyond. p. MILTON-Areopagitica. As good almost kill a man as a good book; who kills a man kills a reasonable creature, God's image; but he who destroys a good book kills reason itself, kills the image of God, as it were in the eye. 1. MILTON-Areopagitica. Deeper than did ever plummet sound, I'll drown my book. h. The Tempest. Act V. Sc. 1. I had rather than forty shillings, The Merry Wives of Windsor. Act I. Sc. 1. Keep thy pen from lender's books, and defy the foul fiend. j. King Lear. Act III. Sc. 4. Knowing I lov'd my books, he furnished me with volumes that I prize above my dukedom. k. The Tempest. Act I. Sc. 2. O, let my books be then the eloquence More than that tongue that more hath more express'd. 2. Sonnet XXIII. Books are made from books. U. VOLTAIRE--A Philosophical Dictionary. Books. Sec. 1. It is with books as with men; a very small number play a great part; the rest are confounded with the multitude. V. VOLTAIRE A Philosophical Dictionary. Books. Sec. 1. You despise books; you whose whole lives are absorbed in the vanities of ambition, the pursuit of pleasure, or in indolence; but remember that all the known world, excepting only savage nations, is governed by books. w. VOLTAIRE A Philosophical Dictionary. Books. Sec. 1. They are for company the best friends in Doubts Counsellors, in Damps Comforters, Time's Prospective, the Home Traveller's Ship or Horse, the busie Man's best Recreation, the Opiate of idle Weariness, the Mindes best Ordinary, Nature's Garden and Seed-plot of Immortality.. x. BULSTRODE WHITELOCK-Zootamia. 1654. Books, we know, Are a substantial world, both pure and good: Round these, with tendrils strong as flesh and blood, Our pastime and our happiness will grow. WORDSWORTH--Poetical Works. y. Personal Talk. Some future strain, in which the muse shall tell How science dwindles, and how volumes swell. How commentators each dark passage shun, |