“ We are not such fools as to pay for reading inferior books, when we can read superior books for nothing. ”
Edward Bulwer-Lytton, The Coming Race (1871). copy citation
| Author | Edward Bulwer-Lytton |
|---|---|
| Source | The Coming Race |
| Topic | reading books library |
| Date | 1871 |
| Language | English |
| Reference | |
| Note | |
| Weblink | http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1951/1951-h/1951-h.htm |
Context
“"Our public libraries contain all the books of the past which time has preserved; those books, for the reasons above stated, are infinitely better than any can write nowadays, and they are open to all to read without cost. We are not such fools as to pay for reading inferior books, when we can read superior books for nothing." "With us, novelty has an attraction; and a new book, if bad, is read when an old book, though good, is neglected." "Novelty, to barbarous states of society struggling in despair for something better, has no doubt an attraction, denied to us, who see nothing to gain in novelties; but after all, it is observed by one of our great authors four thousand years ago, that 'he who studies old books will always find in them something new, and he who reads new books will always find in them something old.'”
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Meaning and analysis
