Expression of creativity
Of all the manifestations of human creativity, the most amazing and worthy of attention are books. The thoughts of past times live in books, the voices of people whose ashes have long scattered, like a dream, are heard clearly and distinctly. Everything that humanity has done, changed its mind, everything that it has achieved - all this has been preserved, as if by magic, on the pages of books.
Books have their own mysticism. For some it is just a printed tree, for others it is pages fastened with a spine, and for others it is doors behind which another world opens. If humanity could create something eternal, unshakable, useful and fascinating, then this is undoubtedly books. Various statements about the benefits of books only confirm the fact that these paper publications in hard and soft covers bring more benefits than any other source of information.
Reading is somewhat like meditation. A man looks at the pages, and a thin stream of words flies into his consciousness, filling his nature.
It's a disease
The statements of great people about books tell about many things. They talk about the benefits and harms of reading, about the magic of books, about people who are infected by a scattering of words on the pages.
Oh my vintage reader! A second-hand paper dealer, a relic of dusty attics, a brave drug addict, hooked on the most dangerous drug in the world! Oh, valiant keeper of moldy tomes, divine literary autist, savior of the mind from oblivion, I pray you, do not be healed! (Frederick Beigbeder “The End of the World. First Results”)
Reading is an incurable disease. Once you catch it, it will no longer be possible to overcome this virus. Only in books can you find answers to your questions, talk with those who no longer exist or never existed, and learn something new, mysterious and unknown. Books are magic that you can touch, smell and absorb. It fascinates, attracts the eye, and it is impossible to escape from it.
Best advisors
Most statements about books focus on the fact that they are the best advisers, consolers and teachers.
The book has always been an adviser, a comforter, eloquent and calm for me, and I did not want to exhaust its benefits, saving them for the most important occasions (George Sand).
Books are a good way to talk to someone with whom conversation is impossible (Frederic Beigbeder).
Without reading there is no real education, there is no and there can be no taste, no words, no multifaceted breadth of understanding; Goethe and Shakespeare are equal to a whole university. By reading a person survives centuries (Alexander Herzen).
One who does not read has no advantage over one who cannot read (Mark Twain).
Reading makes a man knowledgeable, conversation makes him resourceful, and the habit of writing makes him accurate (Francis Bacon).
Essays are created only for smart people who can benefit from them. Fools read books without benefit that contain the deepest meaning (Claude A. Helvetius).
Only in books can one find wisdom that has been preserved for thousands of years. Find out the thoughts of those who lived in another era. Books are concentrated knowledge, but they are not open to everyone.
Childhood and fairy tales
It is reading comprehension that can give a person more than he desires. You can read thousands of books and still remain ignorant, but you can find deep meaning in a simple children's fairy tale. Wise sayings about books take into account even this side of the issue and say the following:
Books are just one of the containers where we store what we are afraid to forget. There is no mystery, no magic in them. The magic is only in what they say, in the way they sew the shreds of the universe into a single whole (Ray Bradbury).
It is no good to become an adult without reading all the children's books (Aldous Huxley, Counterpoint).
A deeper meaning lives in the fairy tales told to me in my childhood than in the truth that life teaches (Friedrich Schiller).
It is from the books read in childhood that a person’s attitude towards books is formed. As O. Forsh said, the first book that hits your heart is like your first love. You remember about it all your life and return to these pages with pleasure from time to time. And every time this book becomes thicker and thicker, as if on its pages you see yourself - a little younger and not the same as you are now. It’s as if the book preserved on its pages a person from the past, so familiar and alien at the same time.
Lost colors
Why do people start reading? It is difficult to find a worthy answer to this question; even statements about books cannot always provide universal answers. They can talk about some genres, but not all literature.
We read fantasy to regain lost colors, taste the spices and hear the song of the sirens. There is something ancient and true about fantasy that touches deep chords in our souls.
Fantasy speaks to the child deep within us who dreams of hunting in the forests of the night, feasting at the foot of the mountains, and finding a love that will last forever somewhere south of Oz and north of Shangri-La (George Martin) .
A person allows books into his life only when he has a feeling of inner emptiness and anxiety. When he feels that he has lost something important, has lost his way and cannot find answers. In addition, sayings about books say that reading changes the time of boredom into moments of pleasure.
People read to find like-minded people, to bring back the lost magic to life, and to see their dreams come true somewhere.