'Books have that strange Quality, that being of the frailest and tenderest Matter, they out-last Brass, Iron and Marble'[from 'Bibliotheca Edinburgena Lectori'
(Edinburgh Library to the Reader)]
'Wits, howsoever pregnant and great, without Books, are but as valiant Soldiers without Arms, and Artizans destitute of Tools.'
'What availeth the Writing of Books, if they be not preserved?'
'Libraries are as Forrests, in which not only tall Cedars and Oaks are to be found, but Bushes too and dwarfish Shrubs, and as in Apothecaries Shops all sorts of Drugs
are permitted to be, so may all sorts of Books be in a Library.'
'In sundry Parts of the Earth there were but Seven Wonders dispersed, in one Noble Library many more worthy of greater Admiration, and of greater Excellency, are together
to be found.'[From On Libraries]
‘The Authors I have seen (saith he) on the Subject of Love, are the Earl of Surrey, Sir Thomas Wyat, (whom, because of their Antiquity, I will not match with our better
Times), Sidney, Daniel, Drayton and Spenser. ... The last we have are Sir William Alexander and Shakespear, who have lately published their Works. ... The best and most
exquisite Poet of this Subject, by Consent of the whole Senate of Poets, is Petrarch.’[From Drummond’s Character of Several Authors]