Books should to one of these four ends conduce, For wisdom, piety, delight, or use.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Books should ultimately serve one of four ends: wisdom, piety, delight, or utility.
- In plain terms
- Reading should make you wise, holy, happy, or useful.
- What can you take from it?
- Define what you seek from reading before you start.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- Why do you read?
- What four ends do you value?
Another view
Some works defy categorization into these neat ends.
More from John Denham
Nor ought a genius less than his that writ Attempt translation.
Permalink to quote #4 Youth, what man's age is like to be doth show, We may our ends by our beginnings know.
Permalink to quote #6 Such is our pride, our folly, or our fate, That few but such as cannot write, translate.
Permalink to quote #3
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