“In science, read, by preference the newest works; in literature, the oldest. The classic literature is always modern.”
Caxtoniana: Hints on Mental Culture (1862)
Help us to complete the source, original and additional information
Edward Bulwer-Lytton 31
English novelist, poet, playwright, and politician 1803–1873Related quotes

Source: The Paris Review interview (1981), p. 31

This work is also noteworthy because it contains the first of an effort to represent the imaginary number graphically by the method now used. The effort stopped short of success but was an ingenious beginning.
History of Mathematics (1923) Vol.1

“Read, learn, work it up, go to the literature.
Information is control.”
Source: The Year of Magical Thinking

"Quotes", The Educated Imagination (1963), Talk 3: Giants in Time
Context: In literature you don't just read one poem or novel after another, but enter into a complete world of which every work of literature forms part. This affects the writer as much as it does the reader.

On her encouraging that Americans read literature beyond their country in “Samanta Schweblin on Revealing Darkness Through Fiction” https://lithub.com/samanta-schweblin-on-revealing-darkness-through-fiction/ in LitHub (2017 Jan 12)