Augustine Birrell

“That great dust-heap called 'history'.”

“Libraries are not made, they grow.”

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

“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.”

“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.”

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

“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.”

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