First Editions Quotes & Sayings

This consists in not taking a book into one's hand merely because it is interesting the great public at the time - such as political or religious pamphlets, novels, poetry, and the like, which make a noise and reach perhaps several editions in their first and last years of existence. Remember rather that the man who writes for fools always finds a large public: and only read for a limited and definite time exclusively the works of great minds, those who surpass other men of all times and countries, and whom the voice of fame points to as such. These alone really educate and instruct.

One can never read too little of bad, or too much of good books: bad books are intellectual poison; they destroy the mind — Arthur Schopenhauer

I collect postage stamps. That's the only thing I can afford to collect! I hope in five years' time to say, "Yes, I specialize in Gustav Dore first editions." — Peter Webber

It is great and manly to disdain disguise; it shows our spirit and proves our strength. — Edward Young

When I had no books and had to learn everything I needed off by heart, and when I had to hide what books I had, I promised myself a library filled with the best editions I could afford. I have it now. Books bought out of books. A red room with deep chairs and a fireplace lit. Books of every kind, but no paperbacks, and certain shelves where First Editions are. This is not my study, where there are plenty of paperbacks, it is a contemplative island cut off from busyness, set outside of time. — Jeanette Winterson

Can I have the heart to fluster the flustered Thipps further - that's very difficult to say quickly - by appearing in a top-hat and frock-coat? I think not. Ten to one he will overlook my trousers and mistake me for the undertaker. A grey suit, I fancy, neat but not gaudy, with a hat to tone, suits my other self better. Exit the amateur of first editions; new motive introduced by solo bassoon; enter Sherlock Holmes, disguised as a walking gentleman. — Dorothy L. Sayers

I love photography and first editions. I have that in my genes. My father was an archivist. — Winona Ryder

A sunset is always more beautiful when it is covered with irregularly shaped clouds, because only then can it reflect the many colors out of which dreams and poetry are made. Pity — Paulo Coelho

Book collecting! First editions and best editions; old books and new books - the ones you like and want to have around you. Thousands of 'em. I've had more honest satisfaction and happiness collecting books than anything else I've ever done in life. — Peter Ruber

If the first lady is concerned about this Internet cycle, what would she have done during the heyday when there was 12, 13 editions of a paper in one day? What would she have done with that news cycle? — Matt Drudge

Browsing the first editions at my local independent bookstore, I came across 'Pastoralia,' a collection of stories by George Saunders. I'd read one of the stories in it already, and several other Saunders stories in magazines and anthologies, and liked them all. — Trenton Lee Stewart

In art them is a point of perfection, as of goodness or maturity in nature; he who is able to perceive it, and who loves it, has perfect taste; he who does not feel it, or loves on this side or that, has an imperfect taste. — Jean De La Bruyere

He loves first editions, especially of women: little girls are his passion. — Oscar Wilde

Jesus did not become the 'GodKlingon' or the 'GodMartian'! Only descendants of Adam can be saved. God's Son remains the 'Godman' as our Savior. — Ken Ham

For one thing, a first edition certainly is the edition nearest the heart of an author, the edition upon which his hopes were laid and his ambitions builded; and particularly is this true when the book in question happens to be an author's first publication. Imagine with what flatterings of the authorical heart, with what ecstatic apprehension, he handled his own copy of the book that day it came to him from the publisher! Is not something of this spirit communicated to the collector who loves his writer and his work? Or does that explanation partake too much of sorcery? Here is the original creation, just as it came first from the presses, with all ist strangenesses and wonder for ist orignal readers, with all ist uncorrected errors and inaccuracies to mark it as the curiosity it is. And, of course, with all those mystic values that accrue and attach to the thing that is rare and hard to find. That is all very sentimental, but it is also very practical, as will appear in due course. — Vincent Starrett

The problems of inventing a new language are staggering. But what else can one do if one needs to express one's feeling precisely? — Robert Motherwell

When I was young, you know, the first foreign editions that would come in of anything of mine, I'd sit there and look at them as these strange and wonderful artifacts. — Neil Gaiman

I believe we can balance the scales if Tom Cruise would lower his quote by a mere $29 million ... I assure you my salary would not make a difference. My annual salary is the budget for Altoids on one of Tom's movies. — Alec Baldwin

Yet it would be nearly impossible to overstate Lyell's influence. The Principles of Geology went through twelve editions in his lifetime and contained notions that shaped geological thinking far into the twentieth century. Darwin took a first edition with him on the Beagle voyage and wrote afterwards that 'the great merit of the Principles was that it altered the whole tone of one's mind, and therefore that, when seeing a thing never seen by Lyell, one yet saw it partially through his eyes22.' In short, he thought him nearly a god, as did many of his generation. It is a testament to the strength of Lyell's sway that in the 1980s, when geologists had to abandon just a part of his theory to accommodate the impact theory of extinctions, it nearly killed them. But that is another chapter. — Bill Bryson

I only write first editions. — Groucho Marx

I do not wish to believe and I cannot believe that evil is the normal state of humanity.

The Dream of a Ridiculous Man — Fyodor Dostoyevsky

It was in Alexandria that the circumference of the earth was first measured, the sun fixed at the center of the solar system, the workings of the brain and the pulse illuminated, the foundations of anatomy and physiology established, the definitive editions of Homer produced. It was in Alexandria that Euclid had codified geometry. — Stacy Schiff

The prosperity achieved through slavery had a way of blinding men's hearts to the evil of their own hands. — Ian Tregillis

There were valuable first editions of books in the enormous library, most of them had been scribbled in by some idiot named Will H. — Cassandra Clare

Very young children eat their books, literally devouring their contents. This is one reason for the scarcity of first editions of Alice in Wonderland and other favorites of the nursery. — A. S. W. Rosenbach

More than once Jesus deliberately addressed certain issues that quickly diminished the number of onlookers. It was commitment that thinned the ranks. — Charles R. Swindoll

What I mean is, life is nothing more than what's around you at any time, and what you choose your life to be. — J.T. Cameron