Books, like proverbs, receive their chief value from the stamp and es… — William Temple

Books, like proverbs, receive their chief value from the stamp and esteem of ages through which they passed.

More from William Temple

One must be an inventor to read well. There is then creative reading as well as creative writing. — Ralph Waldo Emerson
Each age, it is found, must write its own books; or rather, each generation for the next succeeding. — Ralph Waldo Emerson
I can tell you, honest friend, what to believe: believe life; it teaches better that book or orator. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
The only way for a rich man to be healthy is by exercise and abstinence, to live as if he were poor. — William Temple
The first ingredient in conversation is truth, the next good sense, the third good humor, and the fourth wit. — William Temple
You may keep your beauty and your health, unless you destroy them yourself, or discourage them to stay with you, by using them ill. — William Temple