=Kingsley, Charles=. "Except a living man, there is nothing more wonderful than a book!--a message to us from the dead, from human souls whom we never saw, who lived, perhaps, thousands of miles away; and yet these, on those little sheets of paper, speak to us, amuse us, vivify us, teach us, comfort us, open their hearts to us as to brothers."
=Lamb, Charles=. "Milton almost requires a solemn service of music to be played before you enter upon him. But he brings his music, to which who listens had need bring docile thoughts and purged ears."
=Landor, Walter Savage=. "The writings of the wise are the only riches our posterity cannot squander."
=Langford=. "Strong as man and tender as woman, they welcome you in every mood, and never turn from you in distress."
=Lowell=. "Have you ever rightly considered what the mere ability to read means? That it is the key that admits us to the whole world of thought and fancy and imagination, to the company of saint and sage, of the wisest and the wittiest at their wisest and wittiest moments? That it enables us to see with the keenest eyes, hear with the finest ears, and listen to the sweetest voices of all time?... One is sometimes asked by young people to recommend a course of reading. My advice would be that they should confine themselves to the supreme books in whatever literature, or, still better, to choose some one great author, and make themselves thoroughly familiar with him."
=Luther=. "To read many books produceth confusion, rather than learning, like as those who dwell everywhere are not anywhere at home."
=Lyly, John=. "Far more seemly were it ... to have thy study full of books than thy purse full of money."
"Beneath the rule of men entirely great The pen is mightier than the sword."
"Ye ever-living and imperial Souls, Who rule us from the page in which ye breathe."
"The Wise (Minstrel or Sage) _out_ of their books are clay; But _in_ their books, as from their graves, they rise, Angels--that, side by side, upon our way, Walk with and warn us!"
"We call some books immortal! _Do they live?_ If so, believe me, TIME hath made them pure. In Books the veriest wicked rest in peace,-- God wills that nothing evil should endure; The grosser parts fly off and leave the whole, As the dust leaves the disembodied soul!"