“Writers, WRITE!”

“In history, truth should be held sacred, at whatever cost . . . especially against the narrow and futile patriotism, which, instead of pressing forward in pursuit of truth, takes pride in walking backwards to cover the slightest nakedness of our forefathers.”

“Facts are often misleading; Rumours on the contrary , true or false, are often revealing.”

“A Private who loses his rifle suffers greater consequences than a General who loses a war.”

“In books I meet the dead as if they were alivein books I see what is yet to come...All things decay and pass in time...All fame would fall into oblivionif God had not given mortal men the book to aid them”

“[A]ll who are smitten with the love of books think cheaply of the world and wealth; as Jerome says to Vigilantius: The same man cannot love both gold and books... The hideousness of vice is greatly reprobated in books, so that he who loves to commune with books is lead to detest all manner of vice. The demon, who derives his name from knowledge, is most effectually defeated by the knowledge of books, and through books his multitudinous deceits and the endless labyrinths of his guile are laid bare to those who read...”

“Books appear to be the most immediate instruments of speculative delight.”