A bad book is as much of a labor to write as a good one, it comes as sincerely from read more

A bad book is as much of a labor to write as a good one, it comes as sincerely from the author's soul.

What is reading, but silent conversation.

What is reading, but silent conversation.

Worthy books
Are not companions--they are solitudes:
We lose ourselves in them and all our cares.

Worthy books
Are not companions--they are solitudes:
We lose ourselves in them and all our cares.

Many people, myself among them, feel better at the mere sight of a book.

Many people, myself among them, feel better at the mere sight of a book.

We get no good
By being ungenerous, even to a book,
And calculating profits--so much help
read more

We get no good
By being ungenerous, even to a book,
And calculating profits--so much help
By so much reading. It is rather when
We gloriously forget ourselves, and plunge
Soul-forward, headlong, into a book's profound,
Impassioned for its beauty, and salt of truth--
'Tis then we get the right good from a book.

A real book is not one that we read, but one that reads us.

A real book is not one that we read, but one that reads us.

Books are the legacies that a great genius leaves to mankind,
which are delivered down from generation to generation, read more

Books are the legacies that a great genius leaves to mankind,
which are delivered down from generation to generation, as
presents to the posterity of those who are yet unborn.

My books are water; those of the great geniuses are wine--everybody drinks water.

My books are water; those of the great geniuses are wine--everybody drinks water.

The books we read should be chosen with great care, that they may be, as an Egyptian king wrote over read more

The books we read should be chosen with great care, that they may be, as an Egyptian king wrote over his library, "The medicines of the soul."