Library Wisdom

"Madam, a circulating library in a town is as an evergreen tree of diabolical knowledge! It blossoms through the year! And depend on it, Mrs. Malaprop, that they who are so fond of handling the leaves, will long for the fruit at last."

Sheridan, The Rivals

"22 acknowledged concubines, and a library of 62,000 volumes attested the variety of his inclinations; and from the productions which he left behind him, it appears that both the one and the other were designed for use rather than for ostentation." [Emperor Gordian the Younger]

Gibbon, The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire