The Habit of Reading

Pacific Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Oakland, California · May 4, 1876

The Habit of Reading.

“I HAVE no time to read,” is the common complaint, and especially of women whose occupations are such as to prevent continuous book perusal. They seem to think that because they can not devote as much attention to books as they are compelled to devote to their avocation, that they cannot read anything. But this is a mistake. It isn't the book we finish at a sitting that always does us the most good. Those we devour in the odd moments, half a dozen pages at a time, often give us more satisfaction, and are more thoroughly digested than those we make a particular effort to read. The men who have made their mark in the world have generally been the men who have in boyhood formed the habit of reading at every available moment, whether for five minutes or five hours.

It is the habit of reading rather than the time at our command that helps us on the road to learning. Many of the cultivated persons, whose names have been famous as students, have given only two or three hours a day to their books. If we make use of spare minutes in the midst of our work, and read a little, if but a page or a paragraph, we shall find our brains quickening and our toil lightened by just so much increased satisfaction as the book gives us. Nothing helps us along the monotonous daily road so much as fresh and striking thoughts, to be considered while our hands are busy. A new idea from a volume is like oil which reduces the friction of the machinery of life. What we remember from brief glimpses into books, often serves as a stimulus to action, and becomes one of the most precious deposits in the treasury of our recollection.

All knowledge is made up of small parts, which would seem insignificant in themselves, but which, taken together, are very valuable weapons for the mind and substantial armor for the soul. “Read anything continuously,” says Dr. Johnson, “and you will be learned.” The odd minutes which we are inclined to waste, if carefully availed of, will, in the long run, make golden hours and days that we shall ever be thankful for.—Scribner.