Eugene Field Quotes

Let my temptation be a book.

I don't want anyone writing in to point out that I spend too much money on books, many of which I will never read. I know that already. I certainly intend to read all of them, more or less. My intentions are good. Anyway, it's my money. And I'll bet you do it too.

It was no hardship to me to spend long hours reading and writing.

There is not any memory with less satisfaction than the memory of some temptation we resisted.

The older I get, the harder it is to splurge without consequences. I love food. Chocolate and cheese and anything that's bad for me. I'll be really good when I'm at home so I can eat what I want to when I'm out with friends.

I read a lot of obscure books and it is nice to open a book.

One big vice in a man is apt to keep out a great many smaller ones.

A good book is always on tap; it may be decanted and drunk a hundred times, and it is still there for further imbibement.

Honey is sweet, "and so is knowledge, but knowledge is like the bee that made that sweet honey, you have to chase it through the pages of a book." (taken from "Thank you, Mr. Falker" )

There are two motives for reading a book; one, that you enjoy it; the other, that you can boast about it.

There is such seduction in a library of good books that I cannot resist the temptation to luxuriate in reading.

A man goes to knowledge as he goes to war, wide awake, with fear, with respect, and with absolute assurance.

This must be what an addict feels like, I think, trying to fight the pull of one last, quick read. My fingers itch toward the binding, and finally, with a sigh of regret, I just grab the book and open it, hungrily reading the story.

Self-denial is not a virtue; it is only the effect of prudence on rascality.

I figured I could read more than five pages tonight since I'd been deprived for the last couple of days. When I finished the fifteenth, I discovered I was three pages from the next chapter. Might as well end with a clean break. After I was done, I sighed and leaned back, feeling decadent and spent. Pure bliss. Books were a lot less messy than orgasms.

And how shall I think of you?' He considered a moment and then laughed. 'Think of me with my nose in a book!

Learning to decipher words had only added to the pleasures of holding spines and turning pages, measuring the journey to the end with a thumb-riffle, poring over frontispieces. Books! Opening with a crackle of old glue, releasing perfume; closing with a solid thump.

The knowledge and experience which produce wisdom can only become a man's individual possession and property by his own free action; and it is as futile to expect these without laborious, painstaking effort, as it is to hope to gather a harvest where the seed has not been sown.

Me and a book is a party. Me and a book and a cup of coffee is an orgy.

There are 10,000 books in my library, and it will keep growing until I die. This has exasperated my daughters, amused my friends and baffled my accountant. If I had not picked up this habit in the library long ago, I would have more money in the bank today; I would not be richer.

He who denies himself much in great matters will readily indulge himself in small things.

When you handle books all day long, every new one is a friend and a temptation.

And how could anyone consent to give up the smell of open books, old or new?

I've developed a great reputation for wisdom by ordering more books than I ever had time to read, and reading more books, by far, than I learned anything useful from, except, of course, that some very tedious gentlemen have written books.

As a child, I felt that books were holy objects, to be caressed, rapturously sniffed, and devotedly provided for. I gave my life to them. I still do. I continue to do what I did as a child; dream of books, make books and collect books.