Never read any book that is not a year old.
Interpretation
The quote suggests that one should focus on timeless knowledge rather than fleeting trends.
Ralph Waldo Emerson's quote highlights the importance of reading works that have stood the test of time, implying that older literature often contains enduring wisdom and insights that are more relevant than contemporary texts that may be subject to current fads. This emphasizes the value of seeking knowledge that has been established and respected over the years, encouraging readers to appreciate foundational ideas that continue to resonate today.
In practice
During a book club meeting, you might say, 'As Ralph Waldo Emerson wisely noted, never read any book that is not a year old.'
It is plain that there is no separate essence called courage, no cup or cell in the brain, no vessel in the heart containing drops or atoms that make or give this virtue; but it is the right or healthy state of every man, when he is free to do that which is constitutional to him to do.
Few people have any next, they live from hand to mouth without a plan, and are always at the end of their line.
Men cease to interest us when we find their limitations
Tis the good reader that makes the good book; a good head cannot read amiss: in every book he finds passages which seem confidences or asides hidden from all else and unmistakeably meant for his ear.
The world belongs to the energetic.
Hast thou named all the birds without a gun?
Gratitude is a vaccine, an antitoxin, and an antiseptic.
The persecution of genius fosters its influence.
Can anything be more disgusting than to hear people called 'educated' making small jokes about eating ham, and showing themselves empty of any real knowledge as to the relation of their own social and religious life to the history of the people they think themselves witty in insulting? [...] The best thing that can be said of it is, that it is a sign of the intellectual narrowness—in plain English, the stupidity which is still the average mark of our culture.
Loosen the bonds of avarice from your hands and neck.
It is a characteristic of wisdom not to do desperate things.
I always say that when I see that needle start to go in the other direction, when people have had enough of me, I'm going to be smart enough to say goodbye. It's such a joyous ride to be on top, and it takes away from that ride if you sort of ride it down.
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