The Before It’s Too Late List
Not long ago, I sat down to begin a day’s work and found myself distractedly messing about online, where I blundered into a collection of quotes about reading.
I was immediately wrapped up in agreeing with the pronouncements of many famous people as they uttered heartfelt words about just how valuable, transporting and all around awesome reading really was. I nodded enthusiastically, feeling justified and righteous, and occasionally surprised.
I read,
No matter how busy you may think you are, you must find time for reading, or surrender yourself to self-chosen ignorance.
Whoa! That’s in-your-face enough to warrant a fist pump, maybe even throwing the horns. And who said it? Can you guess?
Confucius. I cackled to myself. Way to go, Confucius. Literary bad-ass of 500 BC.
Then I read…
“Read the best books first, or you may not have a chance to read them at all.”
— Henry David Thoreau
And that simple, obvious, muscular little sentence shot through me like a frozen dart.