as reported in Josiah Hotchkiss Gilbert, Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), p. 29.
“Books which are no books.”
Detached Thoughts on Books and Reading; reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)..
Last Essays of Elia (1833)
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Charles Lamb 85
English essayist 1775–1834Related quotes
“Any book which inspires us to lead a better life is a good book.”
Source: The Quotable Fulton Sheen: A Topical Compilation of the Wit, Wisdom, and Satire of Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen
Un Art de Vivre (The Art of Living) (1939), The Art of Friendship
As quoted in A Dictionary of Scientific Quotations (1991) edited by Alan Lindsay Mackay, p. 153
Part of his public message upon arrival on his second visit to America (19 May 1932).
General sources
“The Book had in a high degree excited us to self-activity, which is the best effect of any book.”
Bk. I, ch. 4.
1830s, Sartor Resartus (1833–1834)
The Duty of Owning Books (1859)
Context: Books are the windows through which the soul looks out. A house without books is like a room without windows. No man has a right to bring up his children without surrounding them with books, if he has the means to buy them. It is a wrong to his family. He cheats them! Children learn to read by being in the presence of books. The love of knowledge comes with reading and grows upon it.