Reading maketh a full man; conference a ready man; and writing an exact man.
Books Quotes
Samuel Johnson is on this page more than once for good reason. In The Rambler (1750) he wrote that no place gives a more striking conviction of the vanity of human hopes than a public library. Boswell (1791) has him saying that a man ought to read just as inclination leads him, because what he reads as a task will do him little good. Alberto Manguel, Emerson and Northrop Frye are among the most-quoted writers here, which is what you would expect from people who spent their working lives reading.
Two entries are flagged as misattributed. The quip about a manuscript that is both good and original, with the good parts not original and the original parts not good, is credited to Johnson. “Rommel, you magnificent bastard! I read your book!” is credited to General Patton.
No place affords a more striking conviction of the vanity of human hopes than a public library.
A circulating library in a town is as an evergreen tree of diabolical knowledge.
Books are good enough in their own way, but they are a mighty bloodless substitute for life.
"There is no book so bad," said the bachelor, "but something good may be found in it."
People don't realize how a man's whole life can be changed by one book.
Do not be guilty of possessing a library of learned books while lacking learning yourself.