The only advice, indeed, that one person can give another about reading is to take no advice, to follow your own instincts, to use your own reason, to come to your own conclusions. If this is agreed between us, then I feel at liberty to put forward a few ideas and suggestions because you will not allow them to fetter that independence which is the most important quality that a reader can possess. After all, what laws can be laid down about books? The battle of Waterloo was certainly fought on a certain day; but is Hamlet a better play than Lear? Nobody can say. Each must decide that question for himself. To admit authorities, however heavily furred and gowned, into our libraries and let them tell us how to read, what to read, what value to place upon what we read, is to destroy the spirit of freedom which is the breath of those sanctuaries. Everywhere else we may be bound by laws and conventions-there we have none. Virginia Woolf
About This Quote

The only advice that one person can give another is to take no advice. Here, Tolstoy explains that people should not listen to the opinions of others when deciding their own reading choices. If you allow yourself to be persuaded by what other people say, you will miss out on finding books that speak to your own interests. Instead, you should rely on your own judgment and be willing to read anything offered to you, no matter how large or small the book may be.

Source: The Second Common Reader

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