In Praise of BooksCosimo, Inc., 2005 M01 1 - 144 pages With suggestions form influential thinkers and authors, IN PRAISE OF BOOKS can help those who are developing a personal library or reading list. Ralph Waldo Emerson contributed an Atlantic Monthly essay to this volume, in which he recommended his favorite writers and texts. He named Homer, Shakespeare, Herodotus, Dante, Spenser, Bacon, Dickens, and Thackeray as among his most cherished authors. He also listed his three criteria for selecting a book: never read a book that is less than a year old, always read well-known books, and always read topics that one enjoys. Sir John Lubbock also shared his love of books -- "How thankful we ought to be for these inestimable blessings, for this numberless host of friends who never weary, betray, or forsake us!" he wrote -- before recommending the works of Confucius, Aristotle, St. Augustine, Darwin, Goethe, Eliot, and many more. Also included are quotes about reading and books from Socrates ("Employ your time in improving yourself by other men's writings; so you shall come easily by what others have labored hard for"), Niccolo Machiavelli ("I forget every vexation" when reading), Alexander Pope ("At this day, as much company as I have kept, and as much as I love it, I love reading better"), Henry Fielding ("We are as liable to be corrupted by books as by companions"), David Hume (" I was seized very early with a passion for literature, which as been the ruling passion of my life"), and other avid readers. |
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Page 7
... respect better than when he took them on board . " So is it with books , for the most part ; they work no redemption in us . The bookseller might certainly know that his customers are in no respect better for the purchase and ...
... respect better than when he took them on board . " So is it with books , for the most part ; they work no redemption in us . The bookseller might certainly know that his customers are in no respect better for the purchase and ...
Page 17
... respect he inspired among his contemporaries . any one who had read with interest the " Isis and Osiris " of Plutarch should then read a chapter called Providence , " by Synesius , translated into English by Thomas Taylor , he will find ...
... respect he inspired among his contemporaries . any one who had read with interest the " Isis and Osiris " of Plutarch should then read a chapter called Providence , " by Synesius , translated into English by Thomas Taylor , he will find ...
Page 46
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Contents
A SONG OF BOOKS BY SIR JOHN LUBBOCK | 31 |
Fuller | 37 |
THE CHOICE OF BOOKS BY SIR JOHN LUBBOCK | 41 |
Addison | 50 |
Born Died Page | 55 |
Dobson | 67 |
1878 | 88 |
Gilfillan | 96 |
Trollope | 102 |
McCosh | 107 |
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Common terms and phrases
accessible Analects of Confucius Aristophanes Aristotle Bacon beautiful blessed bring century charming cheerful converse dæmons Dante dear delight DESIDERIUS ERASMUS doubt EMERSON Enchiridion of Epictetus English enjoy enjoyment Fathers favorites feel friends genius give greatest Greek happiness heart Homer Horace human hundred ignorant imagination important interesting JEREMY COLLIER knowledge learning literature living Lord lover of books Macaulay master Milton mind modern Molière Molière and Sheridan Montaigne nature never novel opinion orators ourselves perhaps Philosophy Plato pleasure Plutarch poem poetry poets Pope RALPH WALDO EMERSON readers RICHARD DE BURY riches Ruskin sacred scholar Scott selection Shakespeare shelves SIR JOHN LUBBOCK society Socrates sorrow soul Spenser spirits sweet things THOMAS Thomas à Kempis thought thousand tion translations volume weary wise wisest wonder words Wordsworth worth writing Xenophon
Popular passages
Page 76 - No matter how poor I am ; no matter though the prosperous of my own time will not enter my obscure dwelling. If the sacred writers will enter and take...
Page 44 - I were to pray for a taste which should stand me in stead under every variety of circumstances, and be a source of happiness and cheerfulness to me through life, and a shield against its ills, however things might go amiss and the world frown upon me, it would be a taste for reading.
Page 73 - 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 Shakespeare — a devotional exercise proper to be said before reading the "Fairy Queen?
Page 33 - MY days among the Dead are past ; Around me I behold, Where'er these casual eyes are cast, The mighty minds of old: My never-failing friends are they, With whom I converse day by day.
Page 42 - 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 72 - Dreams, books, are each a world; and books, we know, Are a substantial world, both pure and good: Round these, with tendrils strong as flesh and blood, Our pastime and our happiness will grow.
Page 72 - Blessings be with them — and eternal praise, Who gave us nobler loves, and nobler cares — The Poets, who on earth have made us heirs Of truth and pure delight by heavenly lays ! Oh ! might my name be numbered among theirs, Then gladly would I end my mortal days.
Page 9 - CONSIDER what you have in the smallest chosen library. A company of the wisest and wittiest men that could be picked out of all civil countries, in a thousand years, have set in best order the results of their learning and wisdom.