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

“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.”

“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 is is possible to be happy.”

“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.”

“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.”

“Reading is not a duty, and has consequently no business to be made disagreeable. ”