Augustine Birrell Quotes & Sayings

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. — Augustine Birrell

I am far too much in doubt about the present, far too perturbed .about the future, to be otherwise than profoundly reverential about the past. — Augustine Birrell

There are no habits of man more alien to the doctrine of the Communist than those of the collector — Augustine Birrell

Given Pounds and five years, and an ordinary man can in the ordinary course, without any undue haste or putting any pressure upon his taste, surround himself with books, all in his own language, and thence forward have at least one place in the world. — Augustine Birrell

Milton calls the university A stony-hearted step-mother. — Augustine Birrell

It is the Mass the matters. — Augustine Birrell

Personally, I am dead against the burning of books. — Augustine Birrell

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. — Augustine Birrell

Few men can afford to be angry. — Augustine Birrell

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. — Augustine Birrell

It is the Mass that matters. — Augustine Birrell

Reading is not a duty, and has consequently no business to be made disagreeable. — Augustine Birrell

Is this true or only clever? — Augustine Birrell

History is a pageant and not a philosophy. — Augustine Birrell

History is the great dust-heap ... a pageant and not a philosophy. — Augustine Birrell

Great is bookishness and the charm of books. — Augustine Birrell

A poet's soul must contain the perfect shape of all things good, wise and just. His body must be spotless and without blemish, his life pure, his thoughts high, his studies intense. — Augustine Birrell

The true historian, therefore, seeking to compose a true picture of the thing acted, must collect facts and combine facts. Methods will differ, styles will differ. Nobody ever does anything like anybody else; but the end in view is generally the same, and the historian's end is truthful narration. Maxims he will have, if he is wise, never a one; and as for a moral, if he tell his story well, it will need none; if he tell it ill, it will deserve none. — Augustine Birrell

Friendship is a word, the very sight of which in print makes the heart warm. — Augustine Birrell

There were no books in Eden, and there will be none in heaven — Augustine Birrell

That great dust-heap called 'history'. — Augustine Birrell

It is pleasant to be admitted into the birth-chamber of a great idea destined to be translated into action. — Augustine Birrell

Poetry should be vital
either stirring our blood by its divine movements or snatching our breath by its divine perfection. To do both is supreme glory, to do either is enduring fame. — Augustine Birrell

It can never be wrong to give pleasure. — Augustine Birrell

A conventional good read is usually a bad read, a relaxing bath in what we know already. A true good read is surely an act of innovative creation in which we, the readers, become conspirators. — Augustine Birrell

Libraries are not made; they grow. — Augustine Birrell

Good as it is to inherit a library, it is better to collect one. — Augustine Birrell