

Books can be compared to peaceful friends, pleasant and helpful, in whom we see neither caprice nor immodesty. They give us much and demand nothing in return. We may leave them in moments when we are satisfied with our fate and without them, and, on the contrary, we have every right to return to them, in moments of sorrow, with full confidence to find in them advice and consolation. They sow knowledge in our souls, which, as they grow, brings forth rich fruit.