

“When we read, another person thinks for us: we merely repeat his mental process. In learning to write, the pupil goes over with his pen what the teacher has outlined in pencil: so in reading; the greater part of the work of thought is already done for us. This is why it relieves us to take up a book after being occupied with our own thoughts. And in reading, the mind is, in fact, only the playground of another’s thoughts. So it comes about that if anyone spends almost the whole day in reading, and by way of relaxation devotes the intervals to some thoughtless pastime, he gradually loses the capacity for thinking; just as the man who always rides, at last forgets how to walk. This is the case with many learned persons: they have read themselves stupid.”
― Essays and Aphorisms
― Essays and Aphorisms

“A man can be himself only so long as he is alone; and if he does not love solitude, he will not love freedom; for it is only when he is alone that he is really free.”
― Essays and Aphorisms
― Essays and Aphorisms

“It is difficult to find happiness within oneself, but it is impossible to find it anywhere else.”
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“I suppose it is tempting, if the only tool you have is a hammer, to treat everything as if it were a nail.”
― Toward a Psychology of Being
― Toward a Psychology of Being

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