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The books we think we ought to read are poky, dull, and dry;
The books that we would like to read we are ashamed to buy;
The books that people talk about we never can recall;
And the books that people give us — oh, they’re the worst of all!

— Carolyn Wells

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Books

More quotes by Carolyn Wells

A cynic is a man who looks at the world with a monocle in his mind's eye.

A blunder at the right moment is better than cleverness at the wrong time.

Advice is one of those things it is far more blessed to give than to receive.

A guilty conscience is the mother of invention.

It is the interest one takes in books that makes a library. And if a library have interest it is; if not, it isn't.

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Reading maketh a full man; conference a ready man; and writing an exact man.

Francis Bacon Meditationes sacræ (1597)

It is not in the books of the Philosophers, but in the religious symbolism of the Ancients, that we must look for the footprints of Science, and re-discover the Mysteries of Knowledge.

Albert Pike Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry (1871)

There is more than one way to burn a book. And the world is full of people running about with lit matches.

Ray Bradbury Fahrenheit 451 (1953)

People say that life is the thing, but I prefer reading.

Logan Pearsall Smith Afterthoughts (1931)

Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Carolyn Wells (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.