On Reading: An Essay

“It is childish to suppose that a hundred books can be named as those which are the best for each and every one. The simplest experience of the world proves that a work of great excellence may deeply move one person, while it leaves another untouched; and that a book which has influenced one strongly in one's youth may lose such influence over one's later years. There is practically nothing that every man can read at every time...” (Georg Brandes)