companionship of books
A man may usually be known by the books
he reads as well as by the company he keeps; for there is a companionship of
books as well as of men; and one should always live in the best company,
whether it be of books or of men.
A good book may be among the best of
friends. It is the same today that it always was, and it will never change. It
is the most patient and cheerful of companions. It does not turn its back upon
us in times of adversity or distress. It always receives us with the same
kindness; amusing and instructing us in youth, and comforting and consoling us
in age.
Men often discover their affinity to
each other by the mutual love they have for a book just as two persons
sometimes discover a friend by the admiration which both entertain for a third.
There is an old proverb, ‘Love me, love my dog.” But there is more wisdom in
this:” Love me, love my book.” The book is a truer and higher bond of union.
Men can think, feel, and sympathize with each other through their favorite
author. They live in him together, and he in them.
A good book is often the best urn of a
life enshrining the best that life could think out; for the world of a man’s
life is, for the most part, but the world of his thoughts. Thus the best books
are treasuries of good words, the golden thoughts, which, remembered and
cherished, become our constant companions and comforters.
Books possess an essence of immortality.
They are by far the most lasting products of human effort. Temples and statues
decay, but books survive. Time is of no account with great thoughts, which are
as fresh today as when they first passed through their author’s minds, ages
ago. What was then said and thought still speaks to us as vividly as ever from
the printed page. The only effect of time has been to sift out the bad
products; for nothing in literature can long survive but what is really good.
Books introduce us into the best
society; they bring us into the presence of the greatest minds that have ever
lived. We hear what they said and did; we see them as if they were really
alive; we sympathize with them, enjoy with them, grieve with them; their
experience becomes ours, and we feel as if we were in a measure actors with
them in the scenes which they describe.
The great and good do not die, even in
this world.Embalmed in books, their spirits walk abroad. The book is a living
voice. It is an intellect to which on still listens.
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