The mind, relaxing into needful sport,
Should turn to writers of an abler sort,
Whose wit well read more

The mind, relaxing into needful sport,
Should turn to writers of an abler sort,
Whose wit well managed, and whose classic style,
Give truth a lustre, and make wisdom smile.

A person who won't read has no advantage over one who can't read.

A person who won't read has no advantage over one who can't read.

But truths on which depends our main concern,
That 'tis our shame and misery not to learn,
read more

But truths on which depends our main concern,
That 'tis our shame and misery not to learn,
Shine by the side of every path we tread
With such a lustre he that runs may read.

I like to be beholden to the great metropolitan English speech,
the sea which receives tributaries from every region read more

I like to be beholden to the great metropolitan English speech,
the sea which receives tributaries from every region under
heaven. I should as soon think of swimming across the Charles
river when I wish to go to Boston, as of reading all my books in
originals, when I have them rendered for me in my mother tongue.

Our high respect for a well-read man is praise enough for
literature.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson,

Our high respect for a well-read man is praise enough for
literature.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson,

In science, read, by preference, the newest works; in literature,
the oldest. The classic literature is always modern.
read more

In science, read, by preference, the newest works; in literature,
the oldest. The classic literature is always modern.
- Edward George Earle Lytton Bulwer-Lytton, first Baron Lytton,

If you read a lot of books you are considered well read. But if you watch a lot of TV, read more

If you read a lot of books you are considered well read. But if you watch a lot of TV, you're not considered well viewed.

Books have always a secret influence on the understanding; we
cannot at pleasure obliterate ideas: he that reads books read more

Books have always a secret influence on the understanding; we
cannot at pleasure obliterate ideas: he that reads books of
science, though without any desire fixed of improvement, will
grow more knowing; he that entertains himself with moral or
religious treatises, will imperceptibly advance in goodness; the
ideas which are often offered to the mind, will at last find a
lucky moment when it is disposed to receive them.

The first time I read an excellent book, it is to me just as if I
had gained a read more

The first time I read an excellent book, it is to me just as if I
had gained a new friend. When I read a book over I have perused
before, it resembles the meeting with an old one.