Ralph Waldo Emerson o općevažećoj dogmi da je čitanje uvijek dobro. Nije, jer zatupljuje genija u tebi (ne prevodimo na hrvatski, jer se ne usudimo kvariti fine misli): Books are the best of things, well used; abused, among the worst. What is the right use? They are for nothing but to inspire. [expand trigpos=”below” title=”više” swaptitle=”manje”]I had better never see a book, than to be warped by its attraction clean out of my own orbit, and made a satellite instead of a system. The one thing in the world, of value, is the active soul. This every man is entitled to; this every man contains within him, although, in almost all men, obstructed, and as yet unborn. The soul active sees absolute truth; and utters truth, or creates. In this action, it is genius; not the privilege of here and there a favorite, but the sound estate of every man. In its essence, it is progressive. The book, the college, the school of art, the institution of any kind, stop with some past utterance of genius. This is good, say they, — let us hold by this. They pin me down. They look backward and not forward. But genius looks forward: the eyes of man are set in his forehead, not in his hindhead: man hopes: genius creates… [/expand]
When he can read God directly, the hour is too precious to be wasted in other men’s transcripts of their readings… To je samo dio izvanrednog govora koji 34-godišnji Emerson održao na jučerašnji dan 1837. Brain Pickings