What a place to be in is an old library! It seems as though all
the souls of all read more

What a place to be in is an old library! It seems as though all
the souls of all the writers that have bequeathed their labours
to these Bodleians were reposing here as in some dormitory, or
middle state. I do not want to handle, to profane the leaves,
their winding-sheets. I could as soon dislodge a shade. I seem
to inhale learning, walking amid their foliage; and the odor of
their old moth-scented coverings is fragrant as the first bloom
of those sciential apples which grew amid the happy orchard.
- Charles Lamb (used pseudonym Elia),

It is a vanity to persuade the world one hath much learning, by
getting a great library.

It is a vanity to persuade the world one hath much learning, by
getting a great library.

To a historian libraries are food, shelter, and even muse.

To a historian libraries are food, shelter, and even muse.

A library is an arsenal of liberty.

A library is an arsenal of liberty.

A library implies an act of faith

A library implies an act of faith

If truth is beauty, how come no one has their hair done in a library.

If truth is beauty, how come no one has their hair done in a library.

I love vast libraries; yet there is a doubt,
If one be better with them or without,--
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I love vast libraries; yet there is a doubt,
If one be better with them or without,--
Unless he use them wisely, and, indeed,
Knows the high art of what and how to read.

The library is the temple of learning, and learning has liberated more people than all the wars in history.

The library is the temple of learning, and learning has liberated more people than all the wars in history.

Some book there is that she desires to see.
Which is it, girl, of these? Open them, boy.
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Some book there is that she desires to see.
Which is it, girl, of these? Open them, boy.
But thou art deeper read and better skilled:
Come and take choice of all my library,
And so beguile thy sorrow, till the heavens
Reveal the damned contriver of this deed.