They are all alike you know. They hold their tongues for years and you think you're safe, but when the opportunity comes they remember everything.
Edith WhartonRead
The true felicity of a lover of books is the luxurious turning of page by page, the surrender, not meanly abject, but deliberate and cautious, with your wits about you, as you deliver yourself into the keeping of the book. This I call reading.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Reading is a complex and immersive experience that requires intention and awareness.
In this quote, Edith Wharton expresses that true happiness for a book lover comes from the mindful and deliberate act of reading. It is not a passive activity but rather an engaging journey where the reader consciously immerses themselves into the narrative, symbolizing a deep respect for literature and the transformative power it holds.
Themes
ReadingBooksLiteratureImmersionEducation
In practice
Example use cases
In a book club discussion, someone might say, 'As Edith Wharton said, the joy of reading lies in the deliberate turning of the pages, fully immersing ourselves in the story.'
More from Edith Wharton
All quotes →They seemed to come suddenly upon happiness as if they had surprised a butterfly in the winter woods
Edith WhartonRead
Set wide the window. Let me drink the day.
Edith WhartonRead
And I wonder, among all the tangles of this mortal coil, which one contains tighter knots to undo, & consequently suggests more tugging, & pain, & diversified elements of misery, than the marriage tie.
Edith WhartonRead
As he paid the hansom and followed his wife's long train into the house he took refuge in the comforting platitude that the first six months were always the most difficult in marriage. 'After that I suppose we shall have pretty nearly finished rubbing off each other’s angles,' he reflected; but the worst of it was that May's pressure was already bearing on the very angles whose sharpness he most wanted to keep
Edith WhartonRead
There are two ways to spread happiness; either be the light who shines it or be the mirror who reflects it.
Edith WhartonRead
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If we commit ourselves to reading thus increasing our knowledge, only God limits how far we can go in this world.
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[I]t's not just the books under fire now that worry me. It is the books that will never be written. The books that will never be read. And all due to the fear of censorship. As always, young readers will be the real losers.
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A new word is like a fresh seed sown on the ground of the discussion.
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So, please, oh please, we beg, we pray, go throw your TV set away, and in its place you can install, a lovely bookcase on the wall.
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