STREET DOGS

German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer (17881860) on what to read: [There are two kinds of authors: those who write for the subject’s sake, and those who write for writing’s sake. The first kind have had thoughts or experiences which seem to them worth communicating, while the second kind need money and consequently write for money. They think in order to write, they may be recognised by their spinning out their thoughts to the greatest possible length, and … their writing is lacking in definiteness and clearness.

Writing for money is, at bottom, the ruin of literature. It is only the man who writes absolutely for the sake of the subject that writes anything worth writing.

The problem is these bad writers, offering little timeless value, monopolise the time and attention of people that could be otherwise spent on more profitable pursuits. They are not only useless, but they do positive harm.

Nine-tenths of the whole of our present literature aims solely at taking a few shillings out of the public’s pocket, and to accomplish this, author, publisher, and reviewer have joined forces.… And a stupid public reads the worthless trash written by these fellows for no other reason than it has been printed today, while it leaves the works of the great thinkers undisturbed on the bookshelves.

Remember rather that the man who writes for fools always finds a large public: and only read the words of great minds, those who surpass other men of all time and countries … these alone really educate and instruct.

One can never read too little of bad or too much of good books: bad books are intellectual poison; they destroy the mind … in order to read what is good one must make it a condition never to read what is bad; for life is short, and both time and strength limited.