In praise of books and reading
Many good words have been penned over the years in praise of books and reading. Today, I think I'll share some of those with you.
In my office there is a framed print bearing the sentiment of Clarence Day about "The World of Books". This is what it says. "The world of books is the most remarkable creation of man. Nothing else that he builds ever lasts. Monuments fall, nations perish, civilizations grow old and die out, and after an era of darkness new races build others. But in the world of books are volumes that have seen this happen again and again and yet live on, still young, still as fresh as the day they were written, still telling men's hearts of the hearts of men centuries dead."
Continuing the metaphor of books being living, breathing entities, John Milton once wrote "books are not dead things, but do contain a potency of life, as active as that soul whose progeny they are. Nay, they do preserve as in a vial the purest extraction of that living intellect that bred them".
The ancient Greek philosopher, Cicero, saw a very noble yet utilitarian purpose for literacy. He advised "read at every wait; read at all hours; read within leisure; read in times of labor; read as one goes in, read as one goes out. The task of the educated mind is simply put -- read to lead".
Lord Byron, the great English romantic poet, expressed a similar thought when he wrote "words are things, and a small drop of ink, falling like dew upon a thought, produces that which makes thousands, perhaps millions, think".
I know many of you have your own libraries at home. Here's the advice Winston Churchill once gave regarding these personal treasures. "If you cannot read all your books, at any rate peer into them, let them fall open where they will, read from the first sentence that arrests the eye, set them back on the shelves withyour own hands, arrange them on your own plan so that you at least know where they are. Let them be your friends, let them be your acquaintances."
Perhaps some of you are familiar with the British novelist, Anthony Trollope. Here's what he thought about reading. "This habit of reading, I make bold to tell you, is your pass to the greatest, the purest, and the most perfect pleasure that God has prepared for his creatures. It lasts when all other pleasures fade. It will support you when all other recreations are gone. It will last until your death. It will make your hours pleasant as long as you live."
The scholar Erasmus once said "when I get a little money, I buy books, and if any is left, I buy food and clothes".
And, echoing Winston Churchill's thoughts about one's own personal library, Henry Ward Beecher observed "a little library, growing every year, is an honorable part of a man's history. It is a man's duty to have books".
Remember Clifton Fadiman? This champion of reading and literacy has been quoted as saying "when you re-read a classic, you do not see more in the book than you did before; you see more in yourself than there was before".
It's ironic, but Benjamin Franklin, known for being an early promoter of the "popular" library, once said "never lend books, for no one ever returns them. The only books I have in my library are books that other folk have lent me".
What is it that makes authors write books to begin with? Richard DeBury says it's because "the book that he has made renders its author this service in return, that so long as the book survives, its author remains immortal and cannot die".
To close, I quote Thomas Jefferson, who perhaps said it best and said it most simply for all bibliophiles -- "I cannot live without books".
Do you have some favorite book or reading-related quotations? Please share them with us.
