The American mind, unlike the English, is not formed by books, but, as Carl Sandburg once said to me... by newspapers and the Bible.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
Much has been written about the life of the mind.
While confronting the problems of the present, I often find myself thinking back to the world of books as it was experienced by the Founding Fathers and the philosophers of the Enlightenment.
Since its beginnings, American writing has been in dialogue with other literatures.
Books externalise our brains and turn our homes into thinking bodies.
Reading furnishes the mind only with materials of knowledge; it is thinking that makes what we read ours.
American books reflect our common heritage with many other nations and their influence upon our culture. The influences are endless, linking us with the rest of the world. Thus, they are good ambassadors for us.
The mind of America is seized by a fatal dry rot - and it's only a question of time before all that the mind controls will run amuck in a frenzy of stupid, impotent fear.
It is chiefly through books that we enjoy intercourse with superior minds. In the best books, great men talk to us, give us their most precious thoughts, and pour their souls into ours.
Books, the children of the brain.
Books are mind reading devices; they allow us free access to the thoughts and dreams of people we have never met.