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Quotes and Proverbs About Libraries,Librarians and Book Collections

The only true equalisers in the world are books; the only treasure-house

open to all comers is a library; the only wealth which will not decay isknowledge; the only jewel which you can carry beyond the grave is wisdom.

J. A. LangfordIt is, however, not to the museum, or the lecture-room, or the drawing-

school, but to the library, that we must go for the completion of ourhumanity. It is books that bear from age to age the intellectual wealth of the

world.

Owen MeredithIn the houses of the humble a little library in my opinion is a most precious

possession.John Bright

A blessed companion is a book! A book that, fitly chosen, is a life-long friend.Douglas Jerrod

No possession can surpass, or even equal, a good library to the lover of

books.

J. A. LangfordMe, poor man, my library

Was dukedom large enough.

William Shakespeare, The TempestA little library, growing larger every year, is an honourable part of a man's

history. It is a man's duty to have books. A library is not a luxury, but one ofthe necessaries of life.

Henry Ward BeecherThe library of a good man is one of his most constant, cheerful, and

instructive companions; and as it has delighted him in youth, so will it solace

him in old age.C. Frognall Dibdin

How still and peaceful is a Library! It seems quiet as the grave, tranquil asheaven, a cool collection of the thoughts of the men of all times. And yet,

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approach and open the pages, and you find them full of dissension and

disputes, alive with abuse and detraction a huge, many-volumed satireupon man, written by himself. . . . What a broad thing is a library all

shades of opinion reflected on its catholic bosom, as the sunbeams andshadows of a summer's day upon the ample mirror of a lake.

George Gilfillan

Every man should have a library....And when we have got our little librarywe may look proudly at Shakspeare, and Bacon, and Bunyan, as they stand

in our bookcase in company with other noble spirits, and one or two ofwhom the world knows nothing, but whose worth we have often tested.

These may cheer and enlighten us, may inspire us with higher aims and

aspirations, may make us, if we use them rightly, wiser and better men.William A. E. Axon

What a place to be in is an old library! It seems as though all the souls of allthe writers that have bequeathed their labours to these Bodleians, were

reposing here as in some dormitory, or middle state.

Charles LambKnowledge is of two kinds. We know a subject ourselves, or we know where

we can find information upon it. When we enquire into any subject, the firstthing we have to do, is to know what books have treated of it. This leads us

to look at catalogues, and the backs of books in libraries.Samuel Johnson

A scholar must shape his own shell, secrete it, one might almost say, forsecretion is only separation, you know, of certain elements derived from thematerials of the world about us. And a scholar's study, with the books lining

its walls, is his shell.

Oliver Wendell HolmesIn my garden I spend my days; in my library I spend my nights. My

interests are divided between my geraniums and my books. With the flower

I am in the present; with the book I am in the past. I go into my library, andall history unrolls before me.

Alexander SmithThe truest owner of a Library is he who has bought each book for the love

he bears to it; who is happy and content to say," Here are my jewels; mychoicest material possessions.

Frank Carr

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A very short examination of a library is sufficient to enable one to describe

the owner in general and unmistakable terms.Author Unkown