There are books said to be useless, and consequently harmless, but
the conclusion, without being false, is not just; for we have just as
much reason to believe they are dangerous as to admit the contrary.
Now, if a book is indeed useless you cannot bear to read it, and
since you do read it, it must certainly contain something interesting
which renders it agreeable to you; it pleases some faculty of your
soul, some habitual thought of your mind, some predominating
disposition of your heart.
That a book may be read without profit is quite true. But that the
same book can be read without danger of sustaining some loss is
evidently false, unless that it be maintained that we are justified
in having no proposed end for our actions; or that we may act solely
for pastime which is diametrically opposed to the end for which we
were created: Our time is too precious to be used indifferently.
Again if there is in life anything that may be read or omitted
without losing some advantage, or committing some evil, it is
certainly not a book, for it always contains either some facts or
some pictures, or some maxims capable of making an impression on your
mind and heart.
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