Georg C Lichtenberg Books - Reading quotes

" There are very many people who read simply to prevent themselves from thinking. " # Books - Reading

" Do we write books so that they shall merely be read? Don't we also write them for employment in the household? For one that is read from start to finish, thousands are leafed through, other thousands lie motionless, others are jammed against mouseholes, thrown at rats, others are stood on, sat on, drummed on, have gingerbread baked on them or are used to light pipes. " # Books - Reading # Love # Writers and Writing

" A vacuum of ideas affects people differently than a vacuum of air, otherwise readers of books would be constantly collapsing. " # Books - Reading # Ideas # Writers and Writing

" If it is permissible to write plays that are not intended to be seen, I should like to see who can prevent me from writing a book no one can read. " # Books - Reading # Writers and Writing # Enjoyment

" Much reading has brought upon us a learned barbarism. " # Books - Reading # Learning # Civilization

" Some people read because they are too lazy to think. " # Books - Reading

" The intercourse with reasonable people is advisable to everybody because, in this way, a blockhead can become wise by imitation, for the greatest blockheads can imitate, even apes and elephants can do it. " # Books - Reading # Memory # Imitation

" There can hardly be stranger wares in the world than books: printed by people who do not understand them; sold by people who do not understand them; bound, reviewed and read by people who do not understand them; and now even written by people who do not understand them. " # Books - Reading # Friends and Friendship # Critics and Criticism

" You must not allow your reading to dominate you but you should dominate your reading. " # Books - Reading