
“Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body.”
Tatler (1709-1711), no. 147
No. 147.
The Tatler (1711–1714)
Variant: A good conscience is to the soul what health is to the body
Context: Reading is to the mind, what exercise is to the body. As by the one, health is preserved, strengthened, and invigorated: by the other, virtue (which is the health of the mind) is kept alive, cherished, and confirmed.
“Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body.”
Tatler (1709-1711), no. 147
Source: Aphorisms and Reflections (1901), p. 239
“True enjoyment comes from activity of the mind and exercise of the body; the two are ever united.”
As quoted in A Dictionary of Thoughts : Being a Cyclopedia of Laconic Quotations from the Best Authors of the World, both Ancient and Modern (1908) edited by Tryon Edwards
Source: Think Big: Unleashing Your Potential for Excellence
“The body attracts what the mind seduces.”
Original: (it) Il corpo attrae ciò che la mente seduce.
Source: prevale.net
“What grace is to the body, good sense is to the mind.”
La bonne grâce est au corps ce que le bon sens est à l'esprit.
Maxim 67.
Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims (1665–1678)
As quoted in "Hand Book : Caution and Counsels" in The Common School Journal Vol. 5, No. 24 (15 December 1843) by Horace Mann, p. 371
Context: This is that which I think great readers are apt to be mistaken in; those who have read of everything, are thought to understand everything too; but it is not always so. Reading furnishes the mind only with materials of knowledge; it is thinking that makes what we read ours. We are of the ruminating kind, and it is not enough to cram ourselves with a great load of collections; unless we chew them over again, they will not give us strength and nourishment.