“No entertainment is so cheap as reading，” says Mary Wortley Montagu； “nor any pleasure so lasting.” Good books elevate the character， purify the taste， take the attractiveness out of low pleasures， and lift us upon a higher plane of thinking and living. It is not easy to be mean directly after reading a noble and inspiring book. The conversation of a man who reads for improvement or pleasure will be f？lavored by his reading； but it will not be about his reading.
Whatever you read， read with enthusiasm， with energy， read with the whole mind， if you would increase your mental stature， learn to absorb the mental and the moral life of a book， and assimilate it into your life. He is the best reader who consumes the most knowledge and converts it into character. Mechanical readers remember words， the husks of things， but digest nothing. They cram their brains but starve their minds. If you are getting the most out of a book， you will feel a capacity for doing things which you never felt before.
“书籍是年轻人的向导，老年人的消遣。它帮助我们排解孤寂，摆脱精神负担。”
——杰里米·柯里尔
“世间唯一真正平等待人的是书籍，唯一开放的来者不拒的宝库是图书馆。”
——兰格弗博士
也许世间没有任何事物的力量可与书籍匹敌：它使穷人摆脱贫困，使悲惨者脱离苦海，使负荷者无视沉重，使病人忘却痛苦，使伤心的人抛开忧愁，使受压迫者忘掉屈辱。书籍是孤独者的朋友，被遗弃者的伴侣，无趣者的欢乐，绝望者的希冀，沮丧者的兴奋剂，无助者的帮手。它们给黑暗带来光明，给阴影带来绚烂。
我们可能卑微，被社会遗忘，没有机会与那些大人物和上流人士交往。但是，在书中——这个世界上最美好的社会——我们可以住在宫殿，同王子交谈，熟悉所有王室成员，始终与最伟大、最高尚的人往来。