4 quotes
By reading a man does, as it were, antedate his life, and make himself contemporary with past ages.
Treasury of Thought (1881)
A man may as well expect to grow stronger by always eating, as wiser by always reading. Too much over-charges nature, and turns more into disease than nourishment. 'Tis thought and digestion which makes books serviceable, and gives health and vigour to the mind.
Miscellanies upon Moral Subjects (1685)
I would not despair unless I knew the irrevocable decree was passed; saw my misfortune recorded in the book of fate, and signed and sealed by necessity.
Treasury of Thought (1881)
By reading a man does as it were antedate his life, and makes himself contemporary with the ages past. And this way of running up beyond one's nativity is much better than Plato's pre-existence, because here a man knows something of the state, and is the wiser for it, which he is not in the other.
Miscellanies upon Moral Subjects (1685)