Member David_Chef

"I often stand in the centre of the Library here and think despairingly how impossible it is ever to become possessed of all the wealth of facts and ideas contained in the books surrounding me on every hand. I pull out one volume from it's place and feel as if I were no more than giving one dig with a pick in an enormous quarry. The Porter spends his days in the Library keeping strict vigil over this catacomb of books,passing along between the shelves and yet never paying heed to the almost audible susurrus of desire- the desire every book has to be taken down and read,to live,to come into being in somebody's mind. He even hands the volumes over the counter,seeks them out in their proper places or returns them there without once realising that a Book is a Person and not a Thing."
From 'The Journal of a Disappointed Man' by W.N.P.Barbellion

When we no longer have good cooking in the world, we will have no literature, nor high and sharp intelligence, nor friendly gathering, nor social harmony.
Marie-Antoine Carême, Chef (1784-1833)