The habit of reading is the only one I know in which there is no alloy. It lasts when all other pleasures fade. It will be there to support you when all other resources are gone. It will be present to you when the energies of your body have fallen away from you. It will make your hours pleasant to you as long as you live.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Reading is a unique, enduring pleasure that supports a person through all life stages and hardships.
- In plain terms
- Reading is a lasting joy that remains with you when other comforts disappear.
- What can you take from it?
- Cultivate reading as a lifelong habit because it never fails to comfort.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- What book has comforted you most?
- Why do you read when you are tired?
Another view
Reading may not provide physical support or solve immediate practical problems.
More from Anthony Trollope
Book love... is your pass to the greatest, the purest, and the most perfect pleasure that God has prepared for His creatures.
Permalink to quote #82 Of all novelists in any country, Trollope best understands the role of money. Compared with him even Balzac is a romantic.
Permalink to quote #84 Of all the needs a book has, the chief need is that it be readable.
Permalink to quote #81
Related quotes
There is more treasure in books than in all the pirates' loot on Treasure Island and at the bottom of the Spanish Main... and best of all, you can enjoy these …
Walt DisneyWalt Disney quote #10 When we are collecting books, we are collecting happiness.
Vincent StarrettVincent Starrett quote #1 How pure the joy, when first my hands unfold The small, rare volume, black with tarnished gold!
John FerriarJohn Ferriar quote #4