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.