Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body.

Those who don't read good books, have no advantage over those who can't read them

Numerous leisure hours have been made available to men. It is noticeable that many use these extra hours for fun and pleasure. Certainly an increased part of it could profitably be used for gaining knowledge and culture through the reading of good books. Numerous people fail to take advantage of these opportunities. Many people spend hours in planes with only cursory glancing at magazines, and in the train or bus, time is spent 'sitting and thinking,' and in many cases, 'just sitting,' when there could be such a constructive program of reading. People in beauty parlors, professional offices, waiting rooms, and elsewhere waste precious hours thumbing through outdated magazines when much valuable reading could be done in these islands of time...Even in the beginning there was the written word, for Adam and Eve were conscious of the need for the development of the mind, 'And by them their children were taught to read and write, having a language which was pure and undefiled.' (Moses 6:6.)

The only thing worse than not reading a book in the last ninety days is not reading a book in the last ninety days and thinking that it doesn't matter.

The love of learning, the sequestered nooks, and all the sweet serenity of books.

"Literature takes a habit of mind that has disappeared. It requires silence, some form of isolation, and sustained concentration in the presence of an enigmatic thing."

Emerson was once asked which, of all the books he had read, had most affected his life. His response was that he could no more remember the books he had read than he could remember the meals he had eaten, but they had made him. All of us are the products of the elements to which we are exposed.