To sit alone in the lamplight with a book spread out before you, and hold intimate converse with men of unseen generations - such is a pleasure beyond compare.
Interpretation
Reading allows us to connect with the thoughts of those who came before us, providing unparalleled joy.
This quote emphasizes the unique pleasure of reading, highlighting how it enables individuals to engage deeply with the minds of past thinkers and writers. The act of sitting alone with a book symbolizes a solitary yet enriching experience where one can explore ideas and wisdom from different generations, fostering a sense of connection that transcends time.
In practice
During a book club meeting to discuss the importance of literature.
The hour of death waits for no order. Death does not even come from the front. It is ever pressing on from behind. All men know of death, but they do not expect it of a sudden, and it comes upon them unawares. So, though the dry flats extend far out, soon the tide comes and floods the beach.
Blossoms are scattered by the wind and the wind cares nothing but the blossoms of the heart no wind can touch.
On a moonlit night, after a snowfall, or under cherry blossoms, it adds to our pleasure if, while chatting at our ease, we bring forth the wine cups.
My Bible tells me that if we train a child in the way he should go, when he is old he will not turn from it. I think faith and guidance can help fortify a young woman's sense of self, a young man's sense of responsibility, and a sense of reverence all young people for the act of sexual intimacy.
Linguistics will have to recognise laws operating universally in language, and in a strictly rational manner, separating general phenomena from those restricted to one branch of languages or another.
School is about learning to wait your turn, however long it takes to come, if ever. And how to submit with a show of enthusiasm to the judgment of strangers, even if they are wrong, even if your enthusiasm is phony.
Though the academic authorities are actually proud of conducting everything by means of Examinations, they seldom indulge in what religious people used to descibe as Self-Examination. The consequence is that the modern State has educated its citizens in a series of ephemeral fads.
Literature, not scripture, sustains the mind and - since there is no other metaphor - also the soul.
We have found that the most successful teachers in low-income communities operate like successful leaders. They establish a vision of where their students will be performing at the end of the year that many believe to be unrealistic.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.