Read few books well. We forget names and dates; and reproach our memory.
They are of little consequence. We feel our limbs enlarge and
strengthen; yet cannot tell the dinner or the dish that caused the
alteration. Our minds improve though we cannot name the author and have
forgotten the particulars.
Read all books through; and bad books most carefully, lest you should
lose one good thought, being determined never to look into them again. A
man may read a great deal too much.--J. HORNE TOOKE. _Recollections of
S. Rogers._