READING

Studies serve for delight, for ornament, and for ability. Their chief use for delight is in privateness and retiring; for ornament, is in discourse; and for ability, is in the judgment and disposition of business.

Reading maketh a full man; conference a ready man; and writing an exact man. And therefore, if a man write little, he had need have a great memory; if he confer little, he had need have a present wit; and if he read little, he had need have much cunning, to seem to know that he doth not.

—Selections from Of Studies by Francis Bacon

读书足以怡情，足以博采，足以长才。其怡情也，最见于独处幽居之时；其博采也，最见于高谈阔论之中；其长才也，最见于处世判事之际。

读书使人充实，讨论使人机智，笔记使人准确。因此不常做笔记者须记忆力特强，不常讨论者须天生聪颖，不常读书者须欺世有术，始能无知而显有知。

——摘选自培根《论读书》