It is better to know a few authors and a few topics well than to know many authors at a level. Being friends with a few writers like Montaine or Proust is enough to enrich a life.

Don't find yourself drowning in a flood of little books. One person can be deceived, a generation can be deceived, but humanity cannot be deceived. Homerus, Tacitus, Shakespeare and Molière are undoubtedly worthy of the positions they have earned. We may prefer them to those that have not yet stood the test of time.

Food for the soul is choosing well. Every soul has a food suitable for it. Let's try to get to know who our own writers are. These will be very different from those of our friends. Just like in literature and love, the topics chosen by others may surprise us. Let's be faithful to our own. We are the ones who can make the best judgment on this matter.

While reading, create around us as much of the atmosphere of respect and tranquility that surrounds a beautiful concert as possible. Skimming a page, stopping reading to answer the phone, picking up the book again while your mind is elsewhere, then leaving it until the next day, this is not reading.

We must make ourselves worthy of great books. Reading is like inns and love in Spain; we can only find there what we brought with us. What is it more impressive than where a young man who read nothing but boldidance adventure stories now learns what happiness and sorrow are in life and suddenly begins to take intense pleasure in Anna Karenina or Dominique? Great men of action are devoted readers of Kipling and great statesmen are avid readers of Tacitus and Retz. The art of reading is a great part of the art of living.