Books are the best of things, well used; abused, among the worst...They are for nothing but to inspire.
Interpretation
Books can greatly enrich our lives when used wisely, but they can also be detrimental if misused.
Ralph Waldo Emerson highlights the dual nature of books, suggesting that when we engage with them in a constructive way, they are invaluable tools for inspiration and growth. However, if misused or neglected, they can lead to wasted potential and lost opportunities for learning. This quote emphasizes the responsibility that comes with literacy and the proper use of knowledge.
In practice
During a literary workshop, one could quote this to emphasize the importance of utilizing books effectively.
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?
A book is a fragile creature, it suffers the wear of time, it fears rodents, the elements and clumsy hands. so the librarian protects the books not only against mankind but also against nature and devotes his life to this war with the forces of oblivion.
I think the next thing I publish will be for children, but I don't really want to be held to that because I also know what my next book for adults will be, and I really like that, too, so it depends. I've always had more than one thing going.
There is nothing obscure about the objectives of educational exchange. Its purpose is to acquaint Americans with the world as it is and to acquaint students and scholars from many lands with America as it is-not as we wish it were or as we might wish foreigners to see it, but exactly as it is-which by my reckoning is an "image" of which no American need be ashamed.
Obviously, Jay-Z is one of the greatest entertainers of the world today. Not only is he a remarkable rhetorical genius, he's also a man of deep sympathy and empathy for those who are lost and vulnerable, but especially under-educated youth of all cultures and stripes.
Children are not yet fools, but we shall turn them into imbeciles like ourselves, with high I.Q.'s if possible.
Besides, rereading, not reading, is what counts.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.