Books and Reading
Books are the ever-burning lamps of accumulated wisdom.
—Glenn Curtiss(1878-1930 American aviation pioneer and inventor)
A good book is the precious lifeblood of a master spirit.
—John Milton(1608-1674 British poet)
The reading of all good books is like a conversation with the finest men of past centuries.
—René Descartes(1596-1650 French philosopher and mathematician)
A library is a repository of medicine for the mind.
—Francois Rabelais(ca. 1494-1553 French Renaissance humanist and writer)
Turn off the TV and read great books. They open doors in your brain.
—Richard Wolkomir(American writer)
Reading makes a full man.
—Francis Bacon(1561-1626 British philosopher and author)
I would rather be a poor man in a garret with plenty of good books to read than a king who did not love reading.
—Thomas Macaulay(1800-1859 British poet, historian and politician)
Read the best books first, or you may not have a chance to read them at all.
—Henry David Thoreau(1817-1862 American author)
Great books are always contemporary. In contrast, the books we call “contemporary”, because they are currently popular, last only for a year or two, or ten at the most.
—Mortimer Jerome Adler(1902-2001 American educator)
Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested.
—Francis Bacon(1561-1626 British philosopher and author)
I wonder whether what we are publishing now is worth cutting down trees to make paper for the stuff.
—Richard Brautigan(1935-1984 American novelist and poet)
Every man is a volume if you know how to read him.
—English proverb
The world is a beautiful book, but of little use to him who cannot read.
—Carlo Goldoni(1707-1793 Italian playwright)
Books are for use, not for show.
—William Lyon Phelps(1865-1934 American educator)
Laws die, books never.
—Edward Bulwer-Lytton(1831-1891 British politician and poet)