"It can never be wrong to give pleasure."

Augustine Birrell Politics See all quotes by Augustine Birrell →

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“Oh, those scoundrelly Charity Commissioners! By the side of these anthropoid apes, the genuine bookworm, the paper-eating insect, ravenous as he once was, has done comparatively little mischief.”

“A great library easily begets affection, which may deepen into love.”

“It is pleasant to be admitted into the birth-chamber of a great idea destined to be translated into action.”

“There were no books in Eden, and there will be none in heaven;”

“Personally, I am dead against the burning of books.”

“There are no habits of man more alien to the doctrine of the Communist than those of the collector”

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