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.

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,

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.

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.

It may be well to wait a century for a reader, as God has waited
six thousand years for read more

It may be well to wait a century for a reader, as God has waited
six thousand years for an observer.

To learn to read is to light a fire; every syllable that is spelled out is a spark.

To learn to read is to light a fire; every syllable that is spelled out is a spark.

My early and invincible love of reading, . . . I would not
exchange for the treasures of India.

My early and invincible love of reading, . . . I would not
exchange for the treasures of India.

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.

Read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest.

Read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest.