Books alone are liberal and free; they give to all who ask; they emancipate all who serve them faithfully..

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

Books are masters who instruct us without rods or ferules, without words or anger, without bread or money. If you approach them, they are not asleep….

You, O Books, are the golden vessels of the temple, the arms of the clerical militia with which the missiles of the most wicked are destroyed; fruitf….

In books I find the dead as if they were alive; in books I foresee things to come; in books warlike affairs are set forth; from books come forth the ….

The library...of wisdom is more precious than all riches, and nothing that can be wished for is worthy to be compared with it. Whosoever therefore ac….

A library of wisdom, then, is more precious than all wealth, and all things that are desirable cannot be compared to it..

All the glory of the world would be buried in oblivion, unless God had provided mortals with the remedy of books..

Let us consider how great a commodity of doctrine exists in books; how easily, how secretly, how safely they expose the nakedness of human ignorance ….

Books delight us when prosperity smiles upon us; they comfort us inseparably when stormy fortune frowns on us..