The extent of a palace is measured from east to west, or from north to south; but that of a literary work, from the earth to heaven; so that there may be found as much range and power of mind in a few pages… as in a whole epic poem. – Joseph Joubert (1754–1824), translated from French by George H. Calvert, 1

To literature belongs the mighty privilege of embalming, for all ages, the departed kings of intellect. There they repose within the eternal pyramids of their fame. – Robert Aris Willmott, “Glimpses of the Pageant of Literature,” c.1844

What a sense of security in an old book which time has criticized for us! – James Russell Lowell

What is wonderful about great literature is that it transforms the man who reads it towards the condition of the man who wrote. – E.M. Forster, Two Cheers for Democracy, 1951