'It's the greatest university of all'

 

“In every phenomenon, the beginning remains always the most notable moment.  Everywhere in life, the true question is not what we gain, but what we do.” – Thomas Carlyle  

 

Born in Scotland on this date in 1795, Carlyle was a philosopher, teacher and journalist whose writing influenced the development of Victorian-era writers like Charles Dickens and Ralph Waldo Emerson.  Mesmerized by how “heroes” in our world shaped people’s hopes and aspirations, he not only was an award-winning essayist for several major newspapers, but also wrote a dozen books, the most famous being On Heroes, Hero-Worship, and the Heroic in History. 

 

Away from his work, Carlyle championed the establishment of great libraries and was instrumental in founding the London Library to make books available to a broader reading public.  

 

“In books lies the soul of the whole Past Time; the articulate audible voice of the Past, when the body and material substance of it has altogether vanished like a dream,” he said.  “The greatest university of all is a collection of books.”