A man may usually be known by the books he reads
as well as by the company he keeps; for there is a companionship
of books as well as of men; and one should always live in the
best company, whether it be of books or of men.
A good book may be among the best of friends. It is the same today
that it always was, and it will never change. It is the most patient and
cheerful of companions. It does not turn its back upon us
in times of adversity or distress. It always receives us with the same kindness;
amusing and instructing us in youth, and comforting and consoling us in age.
Men often discover their affinity to each other by the mutual love they have
for a book just as two persons sometimes discover a friend by the admiration
which both entertain for a third. There is an old proverb, 'Love me, love my dog.
"But there is more wisdom in this: "Love me, love my book.
"The book is a truer and higher bond of union. Men can think,
feel, and sympathize with each other through their favorite author.
They live in him together, and he in them.
A good book is often the best urn of a life enshrining the best that life
could think out; for the world of a man's life is, for the most part, but the
world of his thoughts. Thus the best books are treasuries of good words,
the golden thoughts, which, remembered and cherished, become our
constant companions and comforters.
Books possess an essence of immortality. They are by far the most
lasting products of human effort. Temples and statues decay, but books
survive. Time is of no account with great thoughts, which are as fresh
today as when they first passed through their author's minds, ages ago.
What was then said and thought still speaks to us as vividly as ever from
the printed page. The only effect of time have been to sift out the bad products;
for nothing in literature can long survive e but what is really good.
Books introduce us into the best society; they bring us into the presence
of the greatest minds that have ever lived. We hear what they said and did;
we see the as if they were really alive; we sympathize with them, enjoy
with them, grieve with them; their experience becomes ours, and we feel
as if we were in a measure actors with them in the scenes which they describe.
The great and good do not die, even in this world. Embalmed
in books, their spirits walk abroad. The book is a living voice.
It is an intellect to which on still listens.