It was Charles Caleb Colton, who said “Books, like friends, should be few and well chosen. Like friends, too, we should return to them again and again for, like true friends, they will never fail us - never cease to instruct - never cloy”.
Books and friends have a connection that is seldom appreciated.
There are many proverbs that were originally meant for books, but can also be applied to friends. Let’s look at a few of them:
“A good book has no ending.”
– R.D. Cumming.
Take a minute and think about your best friend; all those memories of playing pranks together and helping each other in times of need. One adventure after another.
Every other day is a story you’d like to tell others about — retrieving the cricket ball from that seemingly haunted house, walking back home from tuition along a dark, lonely road, staying up all night talking on the phone discussing which chapters to be thorough with for the next day’s exam — your friendship keeps growing, with no end in sight.
“If you only read the books that everyone is reading, you can only think what everyone else is thinking.”
– Haruki Murakami
Sometimes, we make friends with someone simply because everyone seems to do the same. We don’t really take the effort to get to know them for ourselves, but form opinions based on hear-say.
We must choose friends like we choose books from a library; there are many to take off the shelf, but there’s always the one that attracts us for some unknown, mysterious reason. The only way to find out is to start turning the pages.
“Any book that helps a child to form a habit of reading, to make reading one of his deep and continuing needs, is good for him.”
– Maya Angelou
Replace ‘book’ with ‘friend’ in the above sentence and you'll know what I'm talking about.
