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Augustine Birrell Quotes

Augustine Birrell KC was a British Liberal Party politician, who was Chief Secretary for Ireland from 1907 to 1916. In this post, he was praised for enabling tenant farmers to own their property, and for extending university education for Catholics. But he was criticised for failing to take action against the rebels before the Easter Rising, and resigned. A barrister by training, he was also an author, noted for humorous essays. Wikipedia  

✵ 19. January 1850 – 20. November 1933
Augustine Birrell photo
Augustine Birrell: 11 quotes2 likes

Famous Augustine Birrell Quotes

“Libraries are not made; they grow. Good as it is to inherit a library, it is better to collect one.”

Augustine Birrell

Variant: Good as it is to inherit a library, it is better to collect one.

“Words are women, deeds are men.”

Augustine Birrell

"In the Name of the Bodleian"
In the Name of the Bodleian, and Other Essays

“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 can never be wrong to give pleasure.”

Augustine Birrell

"Gossip in a Library"
In the Name of the Bodleian, and Other Essays

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

Augustine Birrell

"In the Name of the Bodleian"
In the Name of the Bodleian, and Other Essays

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

Augustine Birrell

"In the Name of the Bodleian"
In the Name of the Bodleian, and Other Essays

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

Augustine Birrell

"Gossip in a Library"
In the Name of the Bodleian, and Other Essays

“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.”

Augustine Birrell

"Bookworms"
In the Name of the Bodleian, and Other Essays

Augustine Birrell Quotes about books

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

Augustine Birrell

"Gossip in a Library"
In the Name of the Bodleian, and Other Essays

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

Augustine Birrell

"Bookworms"
In the Name of the Bodleian, and Other Essays

“Great is bookishness and the charm of books.”

Augustine Birrell

"Bookworms"
In the Name of the Bodleian, and Other Essays

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