"In books lies the soul of the whole Past Time; the articulate audible voice of the Past, when the body and material substance of it has altogether vanished like a dream."
~ The Hero as Man of Letters

"The true University of these days is a collection of books."
~ The Hero as King

"A good book is the purest essence of a human soul."  ~ Speech in support of the London Library, 1840.

~ Thomas Carlyle (1795 - 1881)  Scottish philosopher, writer, teacher.

~ The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations 3rd ed., Oxford University Press.