Augustine birrell Inspirational Quotes

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

A great library easily begets affection, which may deepen into love.

There were no books in Eden, and there will be none in heaven

Poetry should be vital--either stirring our blood by its divine movements or snatching our breath by its divine perfection. To do both is supreme glory, to do either is enduring fame.

The true historian, therefore, seeking to compose a true picture of the thing acted, must collect facts and combine facts. Methods will differ, styles will differ. Nobody ever does anything like anybody else; but the end in view is generally the same, and the historian's end is truthful narration. Maxims he will have, if he is wise, never a one; and as for a moral, if he tell his story well, it will need none; if he tell it ill, it will deserve none.

Good as it is to inherit a library, it is better to collect one.

Any 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.

Few men can afford to be angry.

[Milton] calls the university "A stony-hearted step-mother."

It is the Mass that matters.

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.

That great dust-heap called 'history'.

It can never be wrong to give pleasure.

There are no habits of man more alien to the doctrine of the Communist than those of the collector

Personally, I am dead against the burning of books.

A poet's soul must contain the perfect shape of all things good, wise and just. His body must be spotless and without blemish, his life pure, his thoughts high, his studies intense.

It is the Mass the matters.

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.

Great is bookishness and the charm of books.

History is a pageant and not a philosophy.

Libraries are not made, they grow.

It is pleasant to be admitted into the birth-chamber of a great idea destined to be translated into action.

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.

I am far too much in doubt about the present, far too perturbed .about the future, to be otherwise than profoundly reverential about the past.

Is this true or only clever?

Author details

Augustine Birrell: Biography and Life Work

Augustine Birrell was a notable British Liberal Party politician. The story of Augustine Birrell began on 19 January 1850 in Wavertree, Liverpool, England. The legacy of Augustine Birrell continues today, following their passing on 20 November 1933 in London, England.

Augustine Birrell KC (19 January 1850 – 20 November 1933) was a British 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. He was criticised for failing to take action against Irish rebels before the Easter Rising , leading to his subsequent resignation. A barrister by training, he was also an author noted for humorous essays.

Legacy and Personal Influence

Personally, Augustine Birrell was married to Margaret Mirrielees, Eleanor Tennyson.

Philosophical Views and Reflections

Birrell had more success in areas such as Education and the Irish land question. His excellent relations with both Roman Catholic and Protestant church leaders such as the Archbishop of Dublin William Walsh ensured the successful passage of the Irish Universities Bill 1908, which established the National University of Ireland and Queen's University Belfast and dissolved the Royal University of Ireland . It solved the sectarian problem in higher education by dividing the Protestant and Catholic traditions into their own separate spheres and ensured Catholic, Nationalist scholars had access to university education. Contemporaries also praised his achievement in carrying the Land Purchase (Ireland) Act 1909 , which though falling far short in its financial provisions allowed for compulsory purchase by the Land Commission of large areas of land for the relief of congestion, through a hostile House of Lords.

The main collection of Birrell's papers, those dealing with his period as Chief Secretary, are deposited in the Bodleian Library . The Bodleian also contains collections of Birrell's public correspondence with political figures of his day, Asquith, Lewis Harcourt and others. Birrell's correspondence with Campbell-Bannerman and Herbert Gladstone are in the British Library . His correspondence with Lloyd George is in the Parliamentary Archives . Correspondence with Herbert Samuel is in King's College, Cambridge . Other collections can be found in the National Library of Ireland , Lambeth Palace , National Library of Scotland and Trinity College Dublin . His family correspondence is deposited in the University of Liverpool .