|
|
|
|
|
|
by quincunx
2106 days ago
|
|
|
Please forgive me the pretentiousness of what I'm about to share, but this is so great: "You complain that in your part of the world there is a scant supply of books. But it is quality, rather than quantity, that matters; a limited list of reading benefits; a varied assortment serves only for delight. He who would arrive at the appointed end must follow a single road and not wander through many ways. What you suggest is not travelling; it is mere tramping." - Seneca, Letters to Lucilius, #45 This is such a powerful idea to me, from about 2000 years ago, that reading everything is like drifting aimlessly never arriving anywhere; it's just so recognizable. |
|
|
> To-day people complain of a surfeit: but it is not for readers to complain; the remedy is easy; nothing forces them to read. It is not any the more for authors to complain. Those who make the crowd must not cry that they are being crushed. Despite the enormous quantity of books, how few people read! and if one read profitably, one would see the deplorable follies to which the common people offer themselves as prey every day.
[1] https://history.hanover.edu/texts/voltaire/volbooks.html