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Books are not absolutely dead things, but do contain a potency of life in them to be as active as that soul was whose progeny they are. — John Milton · 1644Age, that Age appeared to be best in four things: Old Wood best to burn, Old Wine to drink, Old Friends to trust, and old Authors to read. — Francis Bacon · 1625Reading maketh a full man, conference a ready man, and writing an exact man. — Francis Bacon · 1625To desire to have many books, and never to use them, is like a childe that will have a candle burning by him all the while he is sleeping. — Henry Peacham · 1622
The reading of good books is like a conversation with the best men of past centuries-in fact like a prepared conversation, in which they reveal only the best of their thoughts. — Rene Descartes · 1637A man ought to read just as inclination leads him; for what he reads as a task will do him little good. — Samuel Johnson · 1763
From a child I was fond of reading, and all the little money that came into my hands was ever laid out in books. — Benjamin Franklin · 1790
If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need. — Cicero · 44 BC
Of making many books there is no end; and much study is a weariness of the flesh. — Ecclesiastes 12:12 · 931 BC