Read not to contradict and confuse , nor to believe and take for granted, nor to find talk for discourse, but to weigh and consider.

Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested; that is, some few to be chewed and only in parts, others to be read, but not curiously, and some few to be read wholly and with diligence and attention.

Some books also may be read by deputy, and extracts made of them by others; but that would be only in less important arguments and the meaner sort of books; else distilled books are like common distilled waters, flashy things.

Reading makes a full man , conference a ready man, and writing an exact man. And therefore, if a man write little, he need have a great memory; if he confer little, he need have much present wit; and if he read little, he need have much cunning to seem to know what he does not.