There is more reason for saying grace before a new book than before dinner.
Charles Lamb (1775-1834) Welsh-English essayist
“Grace before Meat,” Essays of Elia (1823)
Quotations by:
Lamb, Charles
Man is a gaming animal. He must be always trying to get the better in something or other.
Charles Lamb (1775-1834) Welsh-English essayist
“Mrs. Battle’s Opinions on Whist,” The Essays of Elia (1823)
I have had playmates, I have had companions;
In my days of childhood, in my joyful school days —
All, all are gone, the old familiar faces.Charles Lamb (1775-1834) Welsh-English essayist
“Old Familiar Faces” (1798)
The greatest pleasure I know is to do a good action by stealth, and to have it found out by accident.
Charles Lamb (1775-1834) Welsh-English essayist
“Table Talk, by the Late Elia,” London Athenaeum (4 Jan 1834)
(Source)
Your borrowers of books — those mutilators of collections, spoilers of the symmetry of shelves, and creators of odd volumes.
Charles Lamb (1775-1834) Welsh-English essayist
“The Two Races of Men,” Essays of Elia (1823)
I could never hate anyone I knew.
Charles Lamb (1775-1834) Welsh-English essayist
(Attributed)
In A. Ainger, Charles Lamb, ch. 6 (1882). Attributed to him by others, but under various circumstances.
Here cometh April again, and as far as I can see the world hath more fools in it than ever.
Charles Lamb (1775-1834) Welsh-English essayist
(Attributed)