Quote#Books & Reading
Though public libraries have an imposing air, and doubtless contain…
Quote byHerman Melville · 1819–1891
Commonly attributed — not confirmed in an authoritative edition. Cited on Wikiquote to: White-Jacket (1850), Ch. 41.
English (original)
Though public libraries have an imposing air, and doubtless contain invaluable volumes, yet, somehow, the books that prove most agreeable, grateful, and companionable, are those we pick up by chance here and there; those which seem put into our hands by Providence; those which pretend to little, but abound in much.
— Herman Melville
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