The book-lover's enchiridion, thoughts, selected and arranged by Philobiblos. by A. Ireland1884 |
Common terms and phrases
amusement beauty become better body bring comes common companions conversation dead delight desire divine enjoy existence eyes feel fields friends genius give greatest habit hand happy heart highest hold hope human imagination intellectual interest JOHN keep kind knowledge labour learning leaves less light literary literature living look LORD matter means memory mind nature never noble objects once ourselves pass past perhaps person philosopher pleasure poets possess present printed reader reason sense society sometimes soul speak spirit sure sweet talk taste things thought tion true truth turn understand volume wealth whole wisdom wise wish worth writing written young
Popular passages
Page 229 - But words are things, and a small drop of ink, Falling like dew, upon a thought, produces That which makes thousands, perhaps millions, think...
Page 121 - Now stir the fire, and close the shutters fast, Let fall the curtains, wheel the sofa round, And while the bubbling and loud-hissing urn Throws up a steamy column, and the cups, That cheer but not inebriate, wait on each, So let us welcome peaceful evening in.
Page 165 - I must confess that I dedicate no inconsiderable portion of my time to other people's thoughts. I dream away my life in others' speculations. I love to lose myself in other men's minds. When I am not walking, I am reading ; I cannot sit and think. Books think for me.
Page 193 - It is chiefly through books that we enjoy intercourse with superior minds, and these invaluable means of communication are in the reach of all. In the best books great men talk to us, give us their most precious thoughts, and pour their souls into ours.
Page 164 - I own that I am disposed to say grace upon twenty other occasions in the course of the day besides my dinner. I want a form for setting out upon a pleasant walk, for a moonlight ramble, for a friendly meeting, or a solved problem. Why have we none for books, those spiritual repasts - a grace before Milton - a grace before Shakspeare a devotional exercise proper to be said before reading the Fairy Queen?
Page 28 - STUDIES serve for delight, for ornament, and for ability. Their chief use for delight is in privateness and retiring ; for ornament, is in discourse ; and for ability, is in the judgment and disposition of business. For expert men can execute, and perhaps judge of particulars, one by one ; but the general counsels, and the plots, and marshalling of affairs come best from those that are learned.
Page 122 - At his own wonders, wondering for his bread. *Tis pleasant through the loop-holes of retreat To peep at such a world ; to see the stir Of the great Babel and not feel the crowd ; To hear the roar she sends through all her gates At a safe distance, where the dying sound Falls a soft murmur on the uninjured ear.
Page 153 - Dreams, books, are each a world ; and books, we know, Are a substantial world, both pure and good : Bound these, with tendrils strong as flesh and blood, Our pastime and our happiness will grow.
Page 79 - t depends Not on the number, but the choice of friends. Books should, not business, entertain the light, And sleep, as undisturbed as death, the night. My house a cottage, more Than palace, and should fitting be For all my use, no luxury. My garden painted o'er With Nature's hand, not Art's ; and pleasures yield, Horace might envy in his Sabine field.
Page 310 - Next to the originator of a good sentence is the first quoter of it. Many will read the book before one thinks of quoting a passage. As soon as he has done this, that line will be quoted east and west.