What is reading but silent conversation?
'Sartor Resartus' is simply unreadable, and for me that always sort of spoils a book.
You should read it, though there is much that is skip-worthy.
The greatest masterpiece in literature is only a dictionary out of order.
When you read a classic you do not see in the book more than you did before. You see more in you than there was before.
Properly we should read for power. Man reading should be man intensely alive. The book should be a ball of light in one's hand.
Best-sellerism is the star system of the book world. A (best-seller) is a celebrity among books. It is a book known primarily (sometimes exclusively) for its well-knownness.
The central theme of the novel is that they were glad to see each other.
Reading after a certain (time) diverts the mind too much from its creative pursuits. Any man who reads too much and uses his own brain too little falls into lazy habits of thinking.
The most technologically efficient machine that man has ever invented is the book.
Literature is news that stays news.
Just the knowledge that a good book is awaiting one at the end of a long day makes that day happier.
Laws die, books never.
Master books, but do not let them master you. Read to live, not live to read.
A good book is the precious life-blood of a master spirit, embalmed and treasured up on purpose to a life beyond life.
Any book which is at all important should be re-read immediately.
Do give books - religious or otherwise - for Christmas. They're never fattening, seldom sinful, and permanently personal.
Never lend books - nobody ever returns them; the only books I have in my library are those which people have lent me.
Discretion is not the better part of biography.
A dictionary should be descriptive, not prescriptive.