"To use books rightly, is to go to them for help; to appeal to them when our own knowledge and power fail; to be led by them into wider sight and purer conception than our own, and to receive from them the united sentence of the judges and councils of all time, against our solitary and unstable opinions."
--John Ruskin
There is so much good stuff in this quote that I don't quite know where to begin. Reading books helps us see life from a new, broader perspective. Every day life is much like a river. We are in the middle, trying to find our way through the rapids. Books, filled with the knowledge of the past, can be like a guide for us. Fiction can help us understand human nature. It can make truths clear by placing it in our minds and our hearts. Nonfiction can give us much needed information, or tell us the important lessons of the past. We can experience the failure and triumphs of others as we read. We can learn from the mistakes and foibles of our fellow men.
Books are messages sent out to the world by their authors. We can ignore them, or we can learn from them. What are we choosing today?
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