“No book is really worth reading at the age of ten which is not equally – and often far more – worth reading at the age of fifty and beyond.”

“It is usual to speak in a playfully apologetic tone about one’s adult enjoyment of what are called ‘children’s books’. I think the convention a silly one. No book is really worth reading at the age of ten which is not equally (and often far more) worth reading at the age of fifty – except, of course, books of information. The only imaginative works we ought to grow out of are those which it would have been better not to have read at all.”

“No book is really worth reading at the age of 10 which is not equally worth reading at the age of 50.”

“It is my opinion that a story worth reading only in childhood is not worth reading even then.”

“If one has to choose between reading the new books and reading the old, one must choose the old: not because they are necessarily better but because they contain precisely those truths of which our own age is neglectful.”

“Clearly one must read every good book at least once every ten years.”

“I can't imagine a man really enjoying a book and reading it only once.”