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 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.

That he that readeth may run over it.
[Lat., Ut percurrat qui legerit eum.]

That he that readeth may run over it.
[Lat., Ut percurrat qui legerit eum.]

If one cannot enjoy reading a book over and over again, there is no use in reading it at all.

If one cannot enjoy reading a book over and over again, there is no use in reading it at all.

Read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest.

Read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest.

The man who does not read has no advantage over the man who cannot read.

The man who does not read has no advantage over the man who cannot read.

If we encountered a man or rare intellect, we should ask him what
books he read.
read more

If we encountered a man or rare intellect, we should ask him what
books he read.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson,

Every man who knows how to read has it in his power to magnify himself, to multiply the ways in read more

Every man who knows how to read has it in his power to magnify himself, to multiply the ways in which he exists, to make his life full, significant and interesting

Night after night,
He sat and bleared his eyes with books.

Night after night,
He sat and bleared his eyes with books.