A. Edward Newton > Quotes

“The buying of more books than one can read is nothing less than the soul reaching toward infinity...”
― A. Edward Newton

“Even when reading is impossible, the presence of books acquired produces such an ecstasy that the buying of more books than one can read is nothing less than the soul reaching towards infinity... We cherish books even if unread, their mere presence exudes comfort, their ready access reassurance.”
― A. Edward Newton, The Amenities of Book Collecting And Kindred Affections

“Who was it who said, "I hold the buying of more books than one can peradventure read, as nothing less than the soul's reaching towards infinity; which is the only thing that raises us above the beasts that perish?" Whoever it was, I agree with him.”
― A. Edward Newton, A magnificent farce and other diversions of a book collector

“My depth of purse is not so great
Nor yet my bibliophilic greed,
That merely buying doth elate:
The books I buy I like to read:
Still e'en when dawdling in a mead,
Beneath a cloudless summer sky,
By bank of Thames, or Tyne, or Tweed,
The books I read — I like to buy.”
― A. Edward Newton, The Amenities of Book Collecting and Kindred Affections

“In an established love of reading there is a policy of insurance guaranteeing certain happiness till death.”
― A. Edward Newton, End Papers: Literary Recreations

“I hold that book-collecting is the best of indoor sports, and I think I can provide proof; at any rate, I shall try.”
― A. Edward Newton, This Book Collecting Game

“There are few finer or more innocent pleasures than talking books to one who knows. There may be joy in heaven- I am told there is- but the evidence is not conclusive, and I'll take mine here in my library.”
― A. Edward Newton, This Book Collecting Game

“Any book is my kind of book that I can read with delight.”
― A. Edward Newton, End Papers: Literary Recreations

“There may be little room for the display of this supreme qualification in the retail book business, but there is room for some. Be enterprising. Get good people about you. Make your shop windows and your shops attractive. The fact that so many young men and women enter the teaching profession shows that there are still some people willing to scrape along on comparatively little money for the pleasure of following an occupation in which they delight. It is as true to-day as it was in Chaucer's time that there is a class of men who "gladly learn and gladly teach," and our college trustees and overseers and rich alumni take advantage of this and expect them to live on wages which an expert chauffeur would regard as insufficient. Any bookshop worthy of survival can offer inducements at least as great as the average school or college. Under pleasant conditions you will meet pleasant people, for the most part, whom you can teach and form whom you may learn something.”
― A. Edward Newton, A magnificent farce and other diversions of a book collector

“My advice to any one who may be temped by some volume with an inscription of the author on its fly-leaf or title-page is, 'Yield with coy submission' — and at once. While such books make frightful inroads on one's bank account, I have regretted only my economies, never my extravagances.”
― A. Edward Newton, The Amenities of Book Collecting And Kindred Affections

“La compra de más libros de los que uno puede leer es nada menos que el alma buscando el infinito ...”
― A. Edward Newton

“By this time it will have been discovered that I am not much of a traveler; but I have always loved London — London with its wealth of literary and historic association, with its countless miles of streets lined with inessential shops overflowing with things that I don't want, and its grimy old book-shops overflowing with things that I do.”
― A. Edward Newton, The Amenities of Book Collecting And Kindred Affections

“Blessings upon the head of Daniel Charles Solander, a botanist of distinction, who after extensive travels became a "Keeper" in the British Museum. He invented the leather case which bears his name, a box in the exact shape of a book, in which some precious volume may be kept when placed upon one's shelves.”
― A. Edward Newton, This Book Collecting Game

“Some one once wrote a poem about 'old books and fresh flowers.' It lilted along very nicely; but I remark that books stay old, indeed get older, and flowers do not stay fresh: a little too much rain, a little too much sun, and it is all over.”
― A. Edward Newton, The Amenities of Book Collecting And Kindred Affections

“Even when reading is impossible, the presence of books acquired produces such an ecstasy that the buying of more books than one can read is nothing less than the soul reaching towards infinity… we cherish books even if unread, their mere presence exudes comfort, their ready access, reassurance.”
― A. Edward Newton

“Shortly afterward, a check for a substantial sum fluttered down upon my desk, and it was impossible that I should not remember how much Milton had received for his 'Paradise Lost' — the receipt for which is in the British Museum — and draw conclusions therefrom entirely satisfactory to my self-esteem.”
― A. Edward Newton, The Amenities of Book Collecting And Kindred Affections

“Buying from Quaritch is rather too much like the German idea of hunting: namely, sitting in an easy chair near a breach in the wall through which game, big or little, is shooed within easy reach of your gun.”
― A. Edward Newton, The Amenities of Book Collecting And Kindred Affections

“It is really surprising how many and what pleasant things happen to me; perhaps it is because I am always ready to meet an agreeable situation a little more than halfway.”
― A. Edward Newton, End Papers: Literary Recreations