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?
Rule, after you have first learned to submit to rule.
This is the first lesson ye should learn: There is so much good in the worst of us, and so much bad in the best of us, it doesn't behoove any of us to speak evil of the rest of us. This is a universal law, and until one begins to make application of same, one may not go very far in spiritual or soul development.
Nothing is harder than to accept oneself.
Good character is not formed in a week or a month. It is created little by little, day by day. Protracted and patient effort is needed to develop good character.
When I was a young boy, during the aftermath of World War II, Germany was broken and in ruins. Many people were hungry, sick, and dying. I remember well the humanitarian shipments of food and clothing that came from the Church in Salt Lake City.
Rational beliefs bring us closer to getting good results in the real world.
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