The thought of these vast stacks of books would drive him mad: the more he read, the less he seemed to know – the greater the number of the books he read, the greater the immense uncountable number of those which he could never read would seem to be…. The thought that other books were waiting for him tore at his heart forever. Thomas Wolfe
About This Quote

This quote about the power of reading is from William Styron’s book, Darkness Visible. It is about the author’s lifelong struggle to understand William Shakespeare. It talks about the infinite volume of books that one may never read. As opposed to the deep need to know everything there is to know, this quote speaks about the desire to read everything one can find. The problem is not knowing enough information but the deep desire to know everything.

Source: Of Time And The River: A Legend Of Mans Hunger In His Youth

Some Similar Quotes
  1. I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where. I love you simply, without problems or pride: I love you in this way because I do not know any other way of loving but this, in which there is no I or you,... - Pablo Neruda
  2. I love you as certain dark things are to be loved, in secret, between the shadow and the soul. - Pablo Neruda
  3. We love the things we love for what they are. - Robert Frost
  4. I carry your heart with me (I carry it in my heart) I am never without it (anywhereI go you go, my dear; and whatever is done by only me is your doing, my darling) I fear no fate (for you are my fate, my... - E.e. Cummings
  5. Every heart sings a song, incomplete, until another heart whispers back. Those who wish to sing always find a song. At the touch of a lover, everyone becomes a poet. - Plato
More Quotes By Thomas Wolfe
  1. With an eye made quiet by the power of harmony, and the deep power of joy, we see into the life of things.
  2. Habit rules the unreflecting herd.
  3. Books! tis a dull and endless strife: Come, hear the woodland linnet, How sweet his music! on my life, There's more of wisdom in it.
  4. Though nothing can bring back the hour Of splendor in the grass, of glory in the flower; We will grieve not, rather find Strength in what remains behind; In the primal sympathy Which having been must ever be...
  5. The thought of our past years in me doth breed Perpetual benediction: not indeed For that which is most worthy to be blest– Delight and liberty, the simple creed Of Childhood, whether busy or at rest, With new-fledged hope still fluttering in his breast.
Related Topics