The worst readers are those who behave like plundering troops: they take away a few things they can use, dirty and confound the remainder, and revile the whole.

Friedrich Nietzsche
About This Quote

This quote is spoken by the character of Atticus Finch, the main character in Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird. The writing style of this quote hints at what the author thinks of the reader’s behavior.

Some Similar Quotes
  1. A half-read book is a half-finished love affair. - David Mitchell
  2. If one wanted to depict the whole thing graphically, every episode, with its climax, would require a three-dimensional, or, rather, no model: every experience is unrepeatable. What makes lovemaking and reading resemble each other most is that within both of them times and spaces open,... - Italo Calvino
  3. We shouldn't teach great books we should teach a love of reading. Knowing the contents of a few works of literature is a trivial achievement. Being inclined to go on reading is a great achievement. - B.F. Skinner
  4. Do not read, as children do, to amuse yourself, or like the ambitious, for the purpose of instruction. No, read in order to live. - Gustave Flaubert
  5. People say that life is the thing, but I prefer reading. - Logan Pearsall Smith
More Quotes By Friedrich Nietzsche
  1. It is not a lack of love, but a lack of friendship that makes unhappy marriages.
  2. There is always some madness in love. But there is also always some reason in madness.
  3. The man of knowledge must be able not only to love his enemies but also to hate his friends.
  4. One ought to hold on to one's heart; for if one lets it go, one soon loses control of the head too.
  5. Amor Fati — “Love Your Fate”, which is in fact your life.
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