“And better had they ne'er been born,
Who read to doubt, or read to scorn.”
Source: The Monastery (1820), Ch. 12.
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Walter Scott 151
Scottish historical novelist, playwright, and poet 1771–1832Related quotes
“A person who does not read is no better than one cannot read.”
Source: Lead the Field

“The man who reads nothing at all is better educated than the man who reads nothing but newspapers.”
“Her life, except for reading, had been dull—but it had not been in vain.”
Source: The Mind Thing (1961), Chapter 20 (p. 570)

“It is only a certain type of mind that scorns what is known by all and reads secrets as jewels.”
“Five Thousand Years Later” (p. 749)
Seveneves (2015), Part Three

As quoted in "Vertex Interviews Philip K. Dick" by Arthur Byron Cover, in Vertex, Vol. 1, no. 6 (February 1974) http://2010philipkdickfans.philipkdickfans.com/frank/vertexin.htm
Context: I started reading SF when I was about twelve and I read all I could, so any author who was writing about that time, I read. But there's no doubt who got me off originally and that was A. E. van Vogt. There was in van Vogt's writing a mysterious quality, and this was especially true in The World of Null A. All the parts of that book did not add up; all the ingredients did not make a coherency. Now some people are put off by that. They think that's sloppy and wrong, but the thing that fascinated me so much was that this resembled reality more than anybody else's writing inside or outside science fiction. … reality really is a mess, and yet it's exciting. The basic thing is, how frightened are you of chaos? And how happy are you with order? Van Vogt influenced me so much because he made me appreciate a mysterious chaotic quality in the universe which is not to be feared.

“He who shall teach the child to doubt
The rotting grave shall ne'er get out.”
Source: 1800s, Auguries of Innocence (1803), Line 87

“When in doubt, I read Oscar Wilde.”
Source: Sex, Art and American Culture : New Essays (1992), p. xi

"Bureaucracy Scorned" in Newsweek (29 December 1975), later published in Bright Promises, Dismal Performance : An Economist's Protest (1983)