Wonder is the beginning of wisdom in learning from books as well as from nature.
There are genuine mysteries in the world that mark the limits of human knowing and thinking. Wisdom is fortified, not destroyed, by understanding its limitations. Ignorance does not make a fool as surely as self-deception.
The complexities of adult life get in the way of the truth.
A lecture has been well described as the process whereby the notes of the teacher become the notes of the student without passing through the mind of either.
In the case of good books, the point is not to see how many of them you can get through, but rather how many can get through to you.
True freedom is impossible without a mind made free by discipline.
Reading is a basic tool in the living of a good life.
The student can read as fast as his mind will let him, not as slow as his eyes make him.
Don’t try to resist the effect that a work of imaginative literature has on you.
The reader who fails to ponder, or at least mark, the words he does not understand is headed for disaster.
From your point of view as a reader, therefore, the most important words are those that give you trouble.
Most of us are addicted to non-active reading. The outstanding fault of the non-active or undemanding reader is his inattention to words, and his consequent failure to come to terms with the author.
The mind can atrophy, like the muscles, if it is not used.
What reaches the heart without going through the mind is likely to bounce back and put the mind out of business.
You must be able to say “I understand,” before you can say “I agree,” or “I disagree,” or “I suspend judgment.
Enlightenment is achieved only when, in addition to knowing what an author says, you know what he means and why he says it.
… always keep in mind that an article of faith is not something that the faithful assume. Faith, for those who have it, is the most certain form of knowledge, not a tentative opinion.
The telephone book is full of facts but it doesn’t contain a single idea.
In the case of good books the point is not to see how many of them you can get through but rather how many can get through to you.