Books are the depositary of everything that is most honourable to man.
Literature, taken in all its bearings, forms the grand line of
demarcation between the human and the animal kingdoms. He that loves
reading has everything within his reach. He has but to desire; and he
may possess himself of every species of wisdom to judge and power to
perform....
Books gratify and excite our curiosity in innumerable ways. They force
us to reflect. They hurry us from point to point. They present direct
ideas of various kinds, and they suggest indirect ones. In a
well-written book we are presented with the maturest reflections, or the
happiest flights, of a mind of uncommon excellence. It is impossible
that we can be much accustomed to such companions, without attaining
some resemblance of them. When I read Thomson, I become Thomson; when I
read Milton, I become Milton. I find myself a sort of intellectual
chameleon, assuming the colour of the substances on which I rest. He
that revels in a well-chosen library has innumerable dishes, and all of
admirable flavour. His taste is rendered so acute, as easily to
distinguish the nicest shades of difference. His mind becomes ductile,
susceptible to every impression, and gaining new refinement from them
all. His varieties of thinking baffle calculation, and his powers,
whether of reason or fancy, become eminently vigorous.--W. GODWIN. _The
Inquirer: Of an Early Taste for Reading._