Top Ten Tuesday – Libraries in Literature

Welcome to Top Ten Tuesday! Today’s official topic from That Artsy Reader Girl is Bookstores/Libraries I’ve Always Wanted to Visit. For reasons unknown even to myself, I decided to do a bit of a spin-off topic today, and I’ve collected some literary quotes about libraries for you. However, as my contribution to today’s official topic, can I just say how absolutely awesome it would be to be able to visit the library of ancient Alexandria, or even some of the libraries built in Charlemagne’s time? My mind boggles!

But as I said, I decided to stray a little way from the path today and give you ten literary quotes that have something to say about libraries or librarians. Enjoy!

 

 

Horseradish by Lemony Snicket

A good library will never be too neat, or too dusty, because someone will always be in it, taking books off the shelves and staying up late reading them.

 

 

---

 

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

I declare after all there is no enjoyment like reading! How much sooner one tires of any thing than of a book! When I have a house of my own, I shall be miserable if I have not an excellnt library.

 

 

---

 

Cat and Girl Volume I by Dorothy Gambrell

If television’s a babysitter, the Internet is a drunk librarian who won’t shut up.

 

 

 

---

 

Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas

“Guards are of no use in a library.”
Oh, how wrong he was! Libraries were full
of ideas—perhaps the most dangerous and
powerful of all weapons.

 

 

---

 

The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley

As I stood outside in Cow Lane, it occurred to me that Heaven must be a place where the library is open twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.

No . . . eight days a week.

 

---

 

 

Plato

A house that has a library in it has a soul.

 

 

---

 

Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson

In the library I felt better. Words you could trust and look at till you understood them. They couldn’t change halfway through a sentence like people, so it was easier to spot a lie.

 

---

 

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
by J.K. Rowling

“But why’s she got to go to the library?”
“Because that’s what Hermione does,” said Ron, shrugging. “When in doubt, go to the library.”

 

 

---

 

The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making by Catherynne M. Valente

She sounds like someone who spends a lot of time in libraries, which are the best sorts of people.

 

 

---

 

Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare

“I can see he’s not in your good books,” said the messenger.
“No, and if he were I would burn my library.”

 

I’d love to know which of these quotes is your favourite. Or even if you have a favourite quote about libraries of your own.