There is no mistaking a real book when one meets it. It is like falling in love, and like that colossal adventure it is an experie...nce of great social import. Even as the tranced swain, the booklover yearns to tell others of his bliss. He writes letters about it, adds it to the postscript of all manner of communications, intrudes it into telephone messages, and insists on his friends writing down the title of the find. Like the simple-hearted betrothed, once certain of his conquest, "I want you to love her, too!" It is a jealous passion also. He feels a little indignant if he finds that any one else has discovered the book, too.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
To her, my lord, Was I betrothed ere I saw Hermia;... But like a sickness did I loathe this food. But, as in health come to my natural taste, Now I do wish it, love it, long for it, And will for evermore be true to it.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
In all perception of the truth there is a divine ecstasy, an inexpressible delirium of joy, as when a youth embraces his betrothed... virgin. The ultimate delights of a true marriage are one with this.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
When a friend, then, indulges in the joy of unburdening a secret on to another friend's bosom, he makes the latter, in his turn, f...eel the urge to taste the same joy himself. He implores him, it is true, not to tell a soul; but if such a condition were taken absolutely literally, it would at once cut off the flow of these joys at their very source. The general practice is for the secret to be confided only to an equally trustworthy friend, the same conditions being imposed on him. And so from trustworthy friend to trustworthy friend the secret goes moving on round that immense chain, until finally it reaches the ears of just the very person or persons whom the first talker had expressly intended it never should reach.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »