“Your choice is practically illimitable, for the literature of our England is strewn from end to end with a prodigality that almost frightens one.”

Celebrating the extraordinary breadth of the literary inheritance available to readers. · Speech, The Uses of Reading, 1912

• Literature
• Reading
• Wonder

“You may succeed, you may be successful, you may acquire enormous wealth. In which case I warn you that you stand in grave danger of being spoken of as a smart man.”

A humorous warning that worldly success can become a moral liability. · Speech, Values in Life, 1907

• Humour
• Money
• Success

“I am a very long way from saying that literature ought to be a chief or a leading interest in most men’s lives.”

A notably measured defence of literature rather than an extravagant one. · Speech, The Uses of Reading, 1912

• Literature
• Moderation
• Reading