It was the kind of library he had only read about in books.

I lack what the English call character, by which they mean the power to refrain.

I have never understood disliking for war. It panders to instincts already catered for within the scope of any respectable domestic establishment.

But then books, as I'm sure you know, seldom prompt a course of action. Books generally just confirm you in what you have, perhaps unwittingly, decided to do already. You go to a book to have your convictions corroborated. A book, as it were, closes the book.

We started off trying to set up a small anarchist community, but people wouldn't obey the rules.

It was the kind of library he had only read about in books.

Above literature?' said the Queen. 'Who is above literature? You might as well say one was above humanity.