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Reading
see also Books, Literature
- When he was reading, he drew his eyes along over the leaves, and his heart searched into the sense, but his voice and tongue were silent.of St Ambrosead 354–430 Roman Christian theologian: Confessions (ad 397–8) bk. 6, ch. 3
- Read not to contradict and confute, nor to believe and take for granted, nor to find talk and discourse, but to weigh and consider.1561–1626 English lawyer, courtier, philosopher, and essayist: Essays (1625) ‘Of Studies’
- The world may be full of fourth-rate writers but it's also full of fourth-rate readers.1928– English novelist: in Daily Mail 15 August 1989
- History shows that the less people read, the more books they buy.1913–60 French novelist, dramatist, and essayist: Jonas, or the Artist at Work (1957)
- Choose an author as you choose a friend.c.1633–85 Irish poet and critic: Essay on Translated Verse (1684) l. 96
- When I want to read a novel, I write one.1804–81 British Tory statesman and novelist; Prime Minister 1868, 1874–80: W. Monypenny and G. Buckle Life of Benjamin Disraeli vol. 6 (1920) ch. 17
- What do we ever get nowadays from reading to equal the excitement and the revelation in those first fourteen years?1904–91 English novelist: The Lost Childhood and Other Essays (1951)
- There is nothing so pernicious as reading. It destroys all originality of sentiment.1588–1679 English philosopher: Ebenezer Rhodes Peak Scenery (1824) ‘Hobbes’, quoting a letter from St Evremond at Chatsworth to Waller
- A man ought to read just as inclination leads him; for what he reads as a task will do him little good.1709–84 English poet, critic, and lexicographer: James Boswell Life of Samuel Johnson (1791) 14 July 1763
- [The Compleat Angler] is acknowledged to be one of the world's books. Only the trouble is that the world doesn't read its books, it borrows a detective story instead.1869–1944 Canadian humorist: The Boy I Left Behind Me (1947)
- Curiously enough, one cannot read a book: one can only reread it. A good reader, a major reader, an active and creative reader is a rereader.1899–1977 Russian novelist: Lectures on Literature (1980)
- Much reading is an oppression of the mind, and extinguishes the natural candle, which is the reason of so many senseless scholars in the world.1644–1718 English Quaker; founder of Pennsylvania: Fruits of a Father's Love (1726) ch. 2, no. 19
- What really knocks me out is a book that, when you're all done reading it, you wish the author that wrote it was a terrific friend of yours and you could call him up on the phone whenever you felt like it.1919–2010 American novelist and short-story writer: The Catcher in the Rye (1951) ch. 3
- polonius: What do you read, my lord?
hamlet: Words, words, words.1564–1616 English dramatist: Hamlet (1601) act 2, sc. 2, l. [195] (Oxford Standard Authors ed.) - People say that life is the thing, but I prefer reading.1865–1946 American-born man of letters: Afterthoughts (1931) ‘Myself’
- Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body.1672–1729 Irish-born essayist and dramatist: in The Tatler no. 147 (18 March 1710)
- Digressions, incontestably, are the sunshine;—they are the life, the soul of reading;—take them out of this book for instance,—you might as well take the book along with them.1713–68 English novelist: Tristram Shandy (1759–67) bk. 1, ch. 22
- Let us read, and let us dance—two amusements that will never do any harm to the world.1694–1778 French writer and philosopher: Dictionnaire philosophique (1764) ‘Liberty of the Press’
