We get no good
By being ungenerous, even to a book,
And calculating profits--so much help
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We get no good
By being ungenerous, even to a book,
And calculating profits--so much help
By so much reading. It is rather when
We gloriously forget ourselves, and plunge
Soul-forward, headlong, into a book's profound,
Impassioned for its beauty, and salt of truth--
'Tis then we get the right good from a book.

A well-composed book is a magic carpet on which we are wafted to a world that we cannot enter in read more

A well-composed book is a magic carpet on which we are wafted to a world that we cannot enter in any other way

We call some books immortal! Do they live?
If so, believe me, Time hath made them pure.
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We call some books immortal! Do they live?
If so, believe me, Time hath made them pure.
In Books, the veriest wicked rest in peace.

I would rather be poor in a cottage full of books than a king without the desire to read.

I would rather be poor in a cottage full of books than a king without the desire to read.

A book is the only immortality.

A book is the only immortality.

My books are water; those of the great geniuses are wine -- everybody drinks water.

My books are water; those of the great geniuses are wine -- everybody drinks water.

Books were my pass to personal freedom. I learned to read at age three, and soon discovered there was a read more

Books were my pass to personal freedom. I learned to read at age three, and soon discovered there was a whole world to conquer that went beyond our farm in Mississippi.

Until I feared I would lose it, I never loved to read. One does not love breathing.

Until I feared I would lose it, I never loved to read. One does not love breathing.

That place that does contain
My books, the best companions, is to me
A glorious court, where read more

That place that does contain
My books, the best companions, is to me
A glorious court, where hourly I converse
With the old sages and philosophers;
And sometimes, for variety, I confer
With kings and emperors, and weigh their counsels;
Calling their victories, if unjustly got,
Unto a strict account, and, in my fancy,
Deface their ill-placed statues.