„Read a little. Meditate more. Think of God all the time.“

„Pray all the time, read all the scriptures in the world, and worship all the gods there are …but unless you realize the Truth, there is no freedom.“

—  Swami Vivekananda Indian Hindu monk and phylosopher 1863 - 1902

Pearls of Wisdom
Variant: Pray all the time, read all the scriptures in the world, and worship all the gods there are... but unless you realize the Truth, there is no freedom.

„At present I'm re-reading Traherne's Centuries of Meditations which I think almost the most beautiful book (in prose, I mean, excluding poets) in English.“

—  Thomas Traherne English poet 1636 - 1674

C. S. Lewis, letter to Arthur Greeves in December 1941. http://www.discovery.org/scripts/viewDB/index.php?command=view&id=978
Criticism

„As long as there is a 'you' doing or not-doing, thinking or not-thinking, 'meditating' or 'not-meditating' you are no closer to home than the day you were born.“

—  Wei Wu Wei writer 1895 - 1986

„Praying is talking to God. Meditating is listening.“

—  Christopher Moore, book Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal

Source: Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal

„If you believe in any religion you cannot meditate. Religion is an interference in your meditation. Meditation needs no God, no heaven, no hell, no fear of punishment, and no allurement of pleasure.“

—  Rajneesh Godman and leader of the Rajneesh movement 1931 - 1990

Source: Autobiography of a Spiritually Incorrect Mystic (2000), p. 10

„To be perfectly original one should think much and read little, and this is impossible, for one must have read before one has learnt to think.“

—  George Gordon Byron English poet and a leading figure in the Romantic movement 1788 - 1824

„The more that learn to read the less learn how to make a living. That's one thing about a little education. It spoils you for actual work. The more you know the more you think somebody owes you a living.“

—  Will Rogers American humorist and entertainer 1879 - 1935

Daily Telegram #1597, Will Rogers Finds Larnin' Spoils One For Real Work (4 September 1931)
Daily telegrams

„It is a very important consideration that we are consecrated and dedicated to God; it means that we may think, speak, meditate, or do anything only with a view to his glory.“

—  John Calvin French Protestant reformer 1509 - 1564

Page 26.
Golden Booklet of the True Christian Life (1551)

„It is my meditation all the day, and more than my meat and drink, to know how I shall make the Saints of God comprehend the visions that roll like an overflowing surge before my mind.“

—  Joseph Smith, Jr., book History of the Church

History of the Church, 5:362 (16 April 1843)
1840s

„Of course reading and thinking are important but, my God, food is important too.“

—  Iris Murdoch, book The Sea, the Sea

Source: The Sea, the Sea

„A free man thinks of death least of all things; and his wisdom is a meditation not of death but of life.“

—  Baruch Spinoza, book Ethics

Part IV, Prop. LXVII
Ethics (1677)
Original: (la) Homo liber de nulla re minus, quam de morte cogitat, et ejus sapientia non mortis, sed vitae meditatio est.

„When I read the life of such a man as Paul, how I blush to think how sickly and dwarfed Christianity is at the present time, and how many hundreds there are who never think of working for the Son of God and honoring Christ.“

—  Dwight L. Moody American evangelist and publisher 1837 - 1899

Source: Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), P. 3.

„If you have time to be mindful, you have time to meditate.“

—  Ajahn Chah thai Buddhist monk 1918 - 1992

„I insist on a lot of time being spent, almost every day, to just sit and think. That is very uncommon in American business. I read and think. So I do more reading and thinking, and make less impulse decisions than most people in business. I do it because I like this kind of life.“

—  Warren Buffett American business magnate, investor, and philanthropist 1930

http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/239763 "10 Brilliant Quotes From Warren Buffett, America's Second-Richest Person " entrepreneur.com (13 November 2014)
Quotes from the press

„It's a disease. Nobody thinks or feels or cares any more; nobody gets excited or believes in anything except their own comfortable little God damn mediocrity.“

—  Richard Yates, book Revolutionary Road

Source: Revolutionary Road

„There is, however, nothing wanting to the idleness of a philosopher but a better name, and that meditation, conversation, and reading should be called “work.”“

—  Jean de La Bruyère, book Les Caractères

Il ne manque cependant à l'oisiveté du sage qu'un meilleur nom, et que méditer, parler, lire, et être tranquille s'appelât travailler.
Aphorism 12
Les Caractères (1688), Du mérite personnel

„Never be entirely idle; but either be reading, or writing, or praying, or meditating, or endeavoring something for the public good.“

—  Thomas à Kempis German canon regular 1380 - 1471

„By reading the writings of the most interesting minds in history, we meditate with our own minds and theirs as well.“

—  Kurt Vonnegut, book Palm Sunday

"The Noodle Factory", speech given at the dedication of the Shain Library at Connecticut College, New London
Palm Sunday (1981)
Context: And I believe that reading and writing are the most nourishing forms of meditation anyone has so far found. By reading the writings of the most interesting minds in history, we meditate with our own minds and theirs as well. This to me is a miracle.

„It's only adults who read the top layers most of the time. I think children read the internal meanings of everything.“

—  Maurice Sendak American illustrator and writer of children's books 1928 - 2012

Source: The Art of Maurice Sendak: 1980 to Present