“And better had they ne'er been born,
Who read to doubt, or read to scorn.”

Source: The Monastery (1820), Ch. 12.

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "And better had they ne'er been born, Who read to doubt, or read to scorn." by Walter Scott?
Walter Scott photo
Walter Scott 151
Scottish historical novelist, playwright, and poet 1771–1832

Related quotes

Walter Scott photo

“A person who does not read is no better than one cannot read.”

Earl Nightingale (1921–1989) American motivational speaker

Source: Lead the Field

Thomas Jefferson photo

“Her life, except for reading, had been dull—but it had not been in vain.”

Source: The Mind Thing (1961), Chapter 20 (p. 570)

Neal Stephenson photo

“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

Philip K. Dick photo

“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.”

Philip K. Dick (1928–1982) American author

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.

William Blake photo

“He who shall teach the child to doubt
The rotting grave shall ne'er get out.”

William Blake (1757–1827) English Romantic poet and artist

Source: 1800s, Auguries of Innocence (1803), Line 87

Camille Paglia photo

“When in doubt, I read Oscar Wilde.”

Camille Paglia (1947) American writer

Source: Sex, Art and American Culture : New Essays (1992), p. xi

Milton Friedman photo

“In this day and age, we need to revise the old saying to read, "Hell hath no fury like a bureaucrat scorned."”

Milton Friedman (1912–2006) American economist, statistician, and writer

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

Related topics