Quotes by Augustine Birrell

About Augustine Birrell:

Augustine Birrell was an English Liberal Party politician, who was Chief Secretary for Ireland from 1907 to 1916. In this post, he was praised for enabling tenant farmers to own their property, and for extending university education for Catholics. But he was criticised for failing to take action against the rebels before the Easter Rising, and resigned. A barrister by training, he was also an author, noted for humorous essays.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

That great dust-heap called 'history'.

Augustine Birrell

History is the great dust-heap... a pageant and not a philosophy.

Augustine Birrell

A conventional good read is usually a bad read, a relaxing bath in what we know already. A true good read is surely an act of innovative creation in which we, the readers, become conspirators.

Augustine Birrell

Friendship is a word, the very sight of which in print makes the heart warm.

Augustine Birrell

Libraries are not made, they grow.

Augustine Birrell

Given Pounds and five years, and an ordinary man can in the ordinary course, without any undue haste or putting any pressure upon his taste, surround himself with books, all in his own language, and thence forward have at least one place in the world...

Augustine Birrell

An ordinary man can surround himself with two thousand books and thenceforward have at least one place in the world in which it is possible to be happy.

Augustine Birrell

Libraries are not made; they grow. Good as it is to inherit a library, it is better to collect one.

Augustine Birrell

The man who has a library of his own collection is able to contemplate himself objectively, and is justified in believing in his own existence.

Augustine Birrell

An ordinary man can surround himself with two thousand books and thenceforward have at least one place in the world in which it is always possible to be happy.

Augustine Birrell

Author Bio

  • NameAugustine Birrell
  • DescriptionBritish politician
  • BornJanuary 19, 1850
  • DiedNovember 20, 1933
  • CountryUnited Kingdom
  • ProfessionPolitician; Author