Do Not Disavow

Posted By
Do Not Disavow By: Rick Davis   When Charlemagne established law Salic in barb’rous land, The gospel flourished, and he saw Christ’s praise on every hand.   (“Do you approve his methods now?”) I do not disavow.   King Godfrey took Jerusalem From bloody paynim hands And brought a halt to Musselmen Invading Christian lands.   (“He did some mean things anyhow!”) I do not disavow.   King Richard with his scarlet shield And passant lions ‘bossed Rode forth again unto the field To regain what was lost.   (“His deeds at Acre you allow?”) I do not disavow.   Unto the Germans Luther brought The gospel full restored, And Calvin at Geneva taught The glory of the Lord.   (“The Jews? Servetus? Holy cow!”) I do not disavow.   Stonewall and Lee like knights of old Fought for their native soil, The true and lovely to uphold Against the tyrant’s spoil.   (“Those vile racists ...
0

Quotations on Books

Posted By
5 Great Quotations on Books


“If you cannot read all your books, at any rate handle, or as it were, fondle them – peer into them, let them fall open where they will, read from the first sentence that arrests the eye, set them back on the shelves with your own hands, arrange them on your own plan so that if you do not know what is in them, you at least know where they are. Let them be your friends; let them at any rate be your acquaintances. If they cannot enter the circle of your life, do not deny them at least a nod of recognition.”
― from "Painting as a Pastime" by Winston Churchill

“Give me a house furnished with books rather than furniture! Both, if you can, but books at any rate!”
-from "The Duty of Owning Books" by Horace Mann

"I consider as lovers of books not those who keep their books hidden in their store-chests and never handle them, but those who, by nightly as well as daily use thumb them, batter them, wear them out, who fill out all the margins with annotations of many kinds, and who prefer the marks of a fault they have erased to a neat copy full of faults."
-from "Letter to an unidentified friend (1489)", in The Collected Works of Erasmus

"You can find all the new ideas in the old books; only there you will find them balanced, kept in their place, and sometimes contradicted and overcome by other and better ideas. The great writers did not neglect a fad because they had not thought of it, but because they had thought of it and of all the answers to it as well."
-from "On Reading" by G.K. Chesterton

“I must confess that I dedicate no inconsiderable portion of my time to other people's thoughts. I dream away my life in others' speculations. I love to lose myself in other men's minds. When I am not walking, I am reading; I cannot sit and think. Books think for me.”
-from "Detached Thoughts on Books and Reading" by Charles Lamb

Comments

Arun said…
Excellent post, Rick. Nice quotes, all of them. My personal favorite is the first one by Sir Winston Churchill :)
22 July, 2012 10:53
Rose said…
My favorite is the Chesterton one, with the Horace Mann one coming in a close second. I love it when you open one of the books that hasn't quite made it to your shelves simply because there isn't room (and older books of course have seniority) and you find some carefully weighed old idea that encompasses many new ones.
22 July, 2012 18:45
Rick Davis said…
I like the Horace Mann quote a lot. I'll have to post more quotes from that particular essay. He has some great ones.
22 July, 2012 22:39
Post a Comment