Description
Excerpt from The Friendship of Books
What curious fellows we mortals be! We tumble over each other to catch a glimpse of a commonplace man, rid ing on horseback, because he is said to be a king of a coun try, or a great captain of industry; but when a real king of men sits with us at home, we take the first opportunity to get out of his way. I suppose it is much easier to look at a man's uniform than to talk with a man's soul.
Still, we are not all such inhospitable beings. Some of us, indeed, feel it even proper to be so far courteous and urbane as to welcome the classic into our homes, clothe him in fine raiment, and, though we give him only the freedom of our libraries and carefully lock him up in book cases, yet we do occasionally look him up. Others even go so far as to make a friend or two; for it is said to be the mark of a gentleman that he have a well-stocked library and a speaking acquaintance with some good books. Certainly, we must be gentlemen, even if we are occasion ally bored. There is, indeed, much to be said for a convention which compels us to assume a virtue we have not got. Perhaps the practice of this assumption may breed a habit; and a decent habit is far more desirable than an indecent one, or than no habit at all.
About the Publisher
Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com
This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
What curious fellows we mortals be! We tumble over each other to catch a glimpse of a commonplace man, rid ing on horseback, because he is said to be a king of a coun try, or a great captain of industry; but when a real king of men sits with us at home, we take the first opportunity to get out of his way. I suppose it is much easier to look at a man's uniform than to talk with a man's soul.
Still, we are not all such inhospitable beings. Some of us, indeed, feel it even proper to be so far courteous and urbane as to welcome the classic into our homes, clothe him in fine raiment, and, though we give him only the freedom of our libraries and carefully lock him up in book cases, yet we do occasionally look him up. Others even go so far as to make a friend or two; for it is said to be the mark of a gentleman that he have a well-stocked library and a speaking acquaintance with some good books. Certainly, we must be gentlemen, even if we are occasion ally bored. There is, indeed, much to be said for a convention which compels us to assume a virtue we have not got. Perhaps the practice of this assumption may breed a habit; and a decent habit is far more desirable than an indecent one, or than no habit at all.
About the Publisher
Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com
This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
Details
Publisher - Forgotten Books
Author(s) - Temple Scott
Hardback
Published Date -
ISBN - 9780265357637
Dimensions - 22.9 x 15.2 x 1.7 cm
Page Count - 264
Paperback
Published Date -
ISBN - 9781331122296
Dimensions - 22.9 x 15.2 x 1.4 cm
Page Count - 266
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