You reading over my shoulder, peering beneath / My writing arm.

No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader. No surprise in the writer, no surprise in the reader.

I kept always two books in my pocket, one to read, one to write in. As I walked, my mind was busy fitting what I saw with appropriate words; when I sat by the roadside, I would either read or a pencil and a penny version-book would be in my hand, to note the features of the scene or commemorate some halting stanzas. Thus I lived with words.

No one ever committed suicide while reading a good book, but many have tried while trying to write one

I kept always two books in my pocket, one to read, one to write in.

A program of active reading and writing might be the hardest form of thinking, but it is also the most organized methodology of self-education. Reading exposes the mind to a world of ideas heretofore unimaginable and encourages the novice learner to write. Reading is a form a joint mediation and writing represents the product of several authors’ collective and collaborative minds at work.