[苏格兰]塞缪尔·斯迈尔斯/Samuel Smiles
塞缪尔·斯迈尔斯（1812-1904），苏格兰作家，在1832年取得医师资格，不久便放弃行医，改行新闻工作，1838-1842年任《里兹时报》编辑，1842-1866年从事铁路行政工作。其作品中最杰出的是《自己拯救自己》，《品格的力量》，《金钱与人生》以及《人生的职责》，作品中蕴含维多利亚时代的价值观，与其工作信条相互结合。
A man may usually be known by the books he reads as well as by the company he keeps, for there is a companionship of books as well as of men, and one should always lived in the best company, whether it be of books or of men.
A good book may be among the best of friends. It is the same today that it always was, and it will never change. It is the most patient and cheerful of companions. It does not turn its back upon us in times of adversity or distress. It always receives us with the same kindness, amusing and instructing us in youth, and comforting and consoling us in age.
Men often discover their affinity to each other by the love they have each for a book. The book is a truer and higher bond of union. Men can think, feel, and sympathize with each other through their favorite author. They live in him together and he, in them.
A good book is often the best urn of a life enshrining the best that life could think out;for the world of a man's life is, for the most part, but the world of his thoughts. Thus the best books are treasuries of good words, the golden thoughts, which, remembered and cherished, become our constant companions and comforters.
Books possess an essence of immortality. They are by far the most lasting products of human effort. Temples and statues decay, but books survive. Time is of no account with great thoughts, which are as fresh today as when they first passed through their author's minds, ages ago. What was then said and thought still speaks to us as vividly as ever from the printed page. The only effect of time has been to sift out the bad products;for nothing in literature can long survive but what is really good.