“The use of reading, Gibbon says somewhere, is to aid us in thinking. I have always disagreed with Gibbon over that; he may have used literature to help him think, but for me, often, and for most of the human race I reckon (since I have no reason to think myself unique) books can be a mind-stupefying drug, employed to banish thought, not to invoke it. When I am unhappy I can sink into a novel as into unconsciousness. Blessed War and Peace, thrice blessed Mansfield Park; how many potential suicides have their pages distracted and soothed and entertained past the danger point?”

Joan Aiken

Joan Aiken - “The use of reading, Gibbon says somewhere...” 1

Similar quotes

“I can only give you my love and blessings for today. For me, Guru Purnima is thinking about my Guru.It is an auspicious day for me to think of the Guru and all the Gurus world-wide, in different spheres and planets.About my Guru, I can only say that without his help I would have been nothing and that today I exist because of him.What more can I say?I invoke the blessings of Sri Guru and my Maheshwarnath Babaji and all the parampara, on all of you.Quote by Sri M, author of "Apprenticed To A Himalayan Master”

Sri M
Read more

“As an African American, I don’t take myself too seriously that I can’t poke fun at stereotypes that used to offend me. Despite the title of my book, I think many will be surprised if they actually read it to see what it’s really about, and come away having been entertained. If that happens for only a few people, I will be proud to have put myself out there.My challenge to all the nay-sayers is: HOW DARE YOU READ THIS!”

L.V. Lewis
Read more

“I used to feel for years and years and years that I was very remiss not to have written a novel and I would question people who wrote novels and try to find out how they did it and how they had got past page 30. Then, with the approach of old age, I began to just think: “Well, lucky I can do anything at all.”

Alice Munro
Read more

“When at the typewriter I am no longer where I site but am away across the mountains, in ancient cities or on the Great Plains among the buffalo. Often I think of what pitiful fools are those who use mind-altering drugs to seek feelings they do not have, each drug taking a little more from what they have of mind, leaving them a little less. Give the brain encouragement from study, from thinking, from visualizing, and no drugs are needed.”

Louis L'Amour
Read more

“And I always have this feeling, which may not be true at all, that I am being used as a messenger. I think I'm receiving, and so, I think I'm retransmitting!”

José N. Harris
Read more