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THERE is as much need of system in using literature as in studying chemistry. One may read to know, read to think, or read for entertainment. For the first, truth is necessary; for the second, originality; and for the third, novelty. In the first case a reader must bring his wits to the reading; in the second he gets them there; and in the third he often disposes of them there.
We may read ourselves full, or read ourselves empty, according as we merely take in what we read, or use our reading to stir us into thinking or saying something. Reading should wake a person instead of putting him to sleep, and should always set him to doing something else than reading.
Men can often do something better than get more information, and reading should not be a means of escaping work. We should never do a duty which prevents us from doing one that is greater; reading for entertainment may be no better than drinking for entertainment.
We should consider whether we want another's thoughts in our head instead of our own. Some writers dispossess us when they are read, and we should admit the thoughts of others as guests, not as masters. Reading ought to help us to think instead of preventing thought; a man should make his thought greater than anything he reads, and so appropriate what he learns for his own uses. What we do not master is likely to master us. Many are followers of an author because they do not understand him. He who thoroughly understands another, differs from him. No two minds can be alike in much, and it is a question how far we should let another enthrone his thoughts upon us. He who reads with too full a mind gets nothing, and he should empty it by thinking. Only by working up what we have learned, are we usually ready for anything more. Many writers say simply what we would say if we thought; and to think, we should write instead of read.
Men ought to look where they read, as well as where they leap, and not go in thought where they do not want to be. Not everything true is worth knowing. One should not take in knowledge that is worthless; for not everything one can get is worth having. There is good knowledge, better knowledge, and the best knowledge, and we ought to aim at the last.
Things are not worth reading merely because they are new. What is not valuable when old is seldom so when new; and everything we learn will be old soon, so that we should not let our knowledge become worthless by the time it is well in our possession. We ought to get knowledge that will last, as well as goods that will last, and not have our attainments grow less with their age.
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