“I do not read a book; I hold a conversation with the author.”

Last update June 3, 2021. History

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Do you have more details about the quote "I do not read a book; I hold a conversation with the author." by Elbert Hubbard?
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Elbert Hubbard 141
American writer, publisher, artist, and philosopher fue el … 1856–1915

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“I owe my conversion simply to the reading of a book.”

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In truth, it was neither a vision, nor a seraphic revelation, nor a voice from heaven, nor any strange dream or other mystery that brought me into the way of salvation; and I owe my conversion simply to the reading of a book. A book? Yes, and it is an old, homely-looking book, modest as nature and natural as it; a book that has a work-a-day and unassuming look, like the sun that warms us, like the bread that nourishes us; a book that seems to us as familiar and as full of kindly blessing as the old grandmother who reads daily in it with dear, trembling lips, and with spectacles on her nose. And this book is called quite shortly the Book, the Bible. Rightly do men also call it the Holy Scripture; for he that has lost his God can find Him again in this Book, and towards him that has never known God it sends forth the breath of the Divine Word. The Jews, who appreciate the value of precious things, knew right well what they did when, at the burning of the second temple, they left to their fate the gold and silver implements of sacrifice, the candlesticks and lamps, even the breastplate of the High Priest adorned with great jewels, but saved the Bible. This was the real treasure of the Temple, and, thanks be to God!

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“The only reason I read a book is because I cannot see and converse with the man who wrote it.”

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Unsourced variant: I would never read a book if it were possible for me to talk half an hour with the man who wrote it.
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“I recoil at the idea of someone reading my book because they really should read a black author or two. I don't want to be an icebreaker at your corporation's Kwanzaa gathering.”

Ta-Nehisi Coates (1975) writer, journalist, and educator

The Damned Mob of Scribbling Women http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2011/06/the-damned-mob-of-scribbling-women/239882/ (Jun 3, 2011) The Atlantic. http://www.theatlantic.com
Context: I'm looking to avoid a subtly demeaning subtext which holds that reading, say, is something you should do--like flossing or taxes or laundry. I don't want to speak for women writers, but I recoil at the idea of someone reading my book because they really should read a black author or two. I don't want to be an icebreaker at your corporation's Kwanzaa gathering.

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