--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Do not read good books-life is too short…" description: "\"Do not read good books-life is too short for that-read only the best.\" — Ernest Dimnet" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/362/ernest-dimnet-22679_book_do-not-read-good-books-life-is-too-short_2055920.jpg" --- # Do not read good books-life is too short for that-read… ![“Do not read good books-life is too short for that-read only the best.” quote by Ernest Dimnet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/362/ernest-dimnet-22679_book_do-not-read-good-books-life-is-too-short_2055920.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/362/ernest-dimnet-22679_book_do-not-read-good-books-life-is-too-short_2055920.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/362/ernest-dimnet-22679_book_do-not-read-good-books-life-is-too-short_2055920.jpg) > “Do not read good books-life is too short for that-read only the best.” [Ernest Dimnet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-dimnet/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Only the best books merit our limited time; mediocrity should be avoided. **In simple terms:** Read only the best books. Key Takeaway Prioritize high‑quality reading. Themes reading quality time management literature Mood reflective critical Type advice philosophical When to use this quote - academic study - personal development - leisure reading Key Concepts cognitive enrichment selective reading Questions to Reflect On - How do you judge a book’s value? - What risks come from only reading acclaimed works? A Different Perspective Defining “best” is subjective and may limit exposure. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Book](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/book/) [Books](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/books/) [Good book](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/good-book/) [Writer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writer/) ## Related quotes > [“Life is short. Read good books.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/meeee/life-is-short-read-good-books/) Meeee > [Life is too short to read books that I'm not enjoying.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/melissa-marr/life-is-too-short-to-read-books-that-i-m-not-enjoying/) [Melissa Marr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/melissa-marr/) > [Life is too short to read inferior books.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-bryce/life-is-too-short-to-read-inferior-books/) [James Bryce](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-bryce/) > [Life is too short to read a bad book.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-joyce/life-is-too-short-to-read-a-bad-book/) [James Joyce](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-joyce/) > [Buy good books, and read them; the best books are the commonest, and the last editions are always the best, if the editors are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lord-chesterfield/buy-good-books-and-read-them-the-best-books-are-the-commonest-and-the/) [Lord Chesterfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lord-chesterfield/) > [“Maybe we should all just shut up and read a good book.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-sisney/maybe-we-should-all-just-shut-up-and-read-a-good-book/) Mary Sisney > [“Susan hated Literature. She’d much prefer to read a good book.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terry-pratchett/susan-hated-literature-she-d-much-prefer-to-read-a-good-book/) [Terry Pratchett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terry-pratchett/) > [“One thing I will surely miss is that I couldn't read all the good books in this lifetime.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amit-kalantri/one-thing-i-will-surely-miss-is-that-i-couldn-t-read-all-the-good/) [Amit Kalantri](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amit-kalantri/) > [The failure to read good books both enfeebles the vision and strengthens our most fatal tendency - the belief that the here and now…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/allan-bloom/the-failure-to-read-good-books-both-enfeebles-the-vision-and/) [Allan Bloom](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/allan-bloom/) > [“Forget boys and read a good book. Or study. When you're twenty-five and ranking in the big bucks, men will be falling all over…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephie-davis/forget-boys-and-read-a-good-book-or-study-when-you-re-twenty-five-and/) Stephie Davis > [“when ever you read a good book somewhere in the world a door opens to allow in more light”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vera-nazarian/when-ever-you-read-a-good-book-somewhere-in-the-world-a-door-opens-to/) [Vera Nazarian](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vera-nazarian/) > [“I'd had the idea, once, that if I could get the chance before I died I would read all the good books there were.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wendell-berry/i-d-had-the-idea-once-that-if-i-could-get-the-chance-before-i-died-i/) [Wendell Berry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wendell-berry/) > [Keep good company, read good books, love good things and cultivate soul and body as faithfully as you can](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/louisa-may-alcott/keep-good-company-read-good-books-love-good-things-and-cultivate-soul/) [Louisa May Alcott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/louisa-may-alcott/) > [For me, I would rather read a good book, from a contented author. I don't really care what it takes to produce that.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neil-gaiman/for-me-i-would-rather-read-a-good-book-from-a-contented-author-i-don/) [Neil Gaiman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neil-gaiman/) > [Until we see each other again, keep your head together, read some good books, be useful, be happy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-king/until-we-see-each-other-again-keep-your-head-together-read-some-good/) [Stephen King](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-king/) ## More by Ernest Dimnet > [Americans cannot realize how many chances for mental improvement they lose by their inveterate habit of keeping six conversations when there are twelve in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-dimnet/americans-cannot-realize-how-many-chances-for-mental-improvement-they/) [Ernest Dimnet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-dimnet/) > [Mankind might be divided between multitude who hate to be kept waiting because they get bored and the happy few who rather like it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-dimnet/mankind-might-be-divided-between-multitude-who-hate-to-be-kept/) [Ernest Dimnet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-dimnet/) > [The history of the past interests us only in so far as it illuminates the history of the present.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-dimnet/the-history-of-the-past-interests-us-only-in-so-far-as-it-illuminates/) [Ernest Dimnet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-dimnet/) > [Ideas are the roots of creation.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-dimnet/ideas-are-the-roots-of-creation/) [Ernest Dimnet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-dimnet/) > [Education is the methodical creation of the habit of thinking.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-dimnet/education-is-the-methodical-creation-of-the-habit-of-thinking/) [Ernest Dimnet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-dimnet/) > [Whatever we read from intense curiosity gives us the model of how we should always read. Plodding along page after page with an equal…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-dimnet/whatever-we-read-from-intense-curiosity-gives-us-the-model-of-how-we/) [Ernest Dimnet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-dimnet/) > [Architecture, of all the arts, is the one which acts the most slowly, but the most surely, on the soul.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-dimnet/architecture-of-all-the-arts-is-the-one-which-acts-the-most-slowly/) [Ernest Dimnet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-dimnet/) > [The happiness of most people we know is not ruined by great catastrophes or fatal errors, but by the repetition of slowly destructive little…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-dimnet/the-happiness-of-most-people-we-know-is-not-ruined-by-great/) [Ernest Dimnet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-dimnet/) > [Learn to attack things frontally but according to the most scientific methods.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-dimnet/learn-to-attack-things-frontally-but-according-to-the-most-scientific/) [Ernest Dimnet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-dimnet/) > [Most people suspend their judgment till somebody else has expressed his own and then they repeat it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-dimnet/most-people-suspend-their-judgment-till-somebody-else-has-expressed/) [Ernest Dimnet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-dimnet/) > [Prejudices subsist in people's imagination long after they have been destroyed by their experience.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-dimnet/prejudices-subsist-in-people-s-imagination-long-after-they-have-been/) [Ernest Dimnet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-dimnet/) > [The happiness of most people is not ruined by great catastrophes or fatal errors, but by the repetition of slowly destructive little things.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-dimnet/the-happiness-of-most-people-is-not-ruined-by-great-catastrophes-or/) [Ernest Dimnet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-dimnet/) > [Ideas are the root of creation.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-dimnet/ideas-are-the-root-of-creation/) [Ernest Dimnet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-dimnet/) > [Reading, to most people, means an ashamed way of killing time disguised under a dignified name](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-dimnet/reading-to-most-people-means-an-ashamed-way-of-killing-time-disguised/) [Ernest Dimnet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-dimnet/) > [A school is a place through which you have to pass before entering life, but where the teaching proper does not prepare you for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-dimnet/a-school-is-a-place-through-which-you-have-to-pass-before-entering/) [Ernest Dimnet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-dimnet/) [Explore all 27 Ernest Dimnet quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-dimnet/) ## More Book quotes > [I think a new world will arise out of the religious mists when we approach our Bible with the idea that it is not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aiden-wilson-tozer/i-think-a-new-world-will-arise-out-of-the-religious-mists-when-we/) [Aiden Wilson Tozer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aiden-wilson-tozer/) > [If I had a dollar for every time I couldn’t sleep, I could buy a billion locks and finally read a book in peace.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aesop-rock/if-i-had-a-dollar-for-every-time-i-couldn-t-sleep-i-could-buy-a/) [Aesop Rock](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aesop-rock/) > [Young men, especially in America, write to me and ask me to recommend “a course of reading.” Distrust a course of reading! People who…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-lang/young-men-especially-in-america-write-to-me-and-ask-me-to-recommend-a/) [Andrew Lang](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-lang/) > [The Rosary is the book of the blind.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fulton-j-sheen/the-rosary-is-the-book-of-the-blind/) [Fulton J. Sheen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fulton-j-sheen/) > [I have many who keep me going, I am very fortunate in this sense. There is nothing like a child who knows more about…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/floyd-cooper/i-have-many-who-keep-me-going-i-am-very-fortunate-in-this-sense-there/) [Floyd Cooper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/floyd-cooper/) > [I think books in which people are really happy and things are going well are probably the most challenging novels there are to write,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-quindlen/i-think-books-in-which-people-are-really-happy-and-things-are-going/) [Anna Quindlen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-quindlen/) > [It's like the query letter problem that I just mentioned, magnified a hundredfold. You might be good at telling a story, but that doesn't…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/patrick-rothfuss/it-s-like-the-query-letter-problem-that-i-just-mentioned-magnified-a/) [Patrick Rothfuss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/patrick-rothfuss/) > [I don't think I have made as much of my life as I should have. I should have written more books.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arthur-m-schlesinger-jr/i-don-t-think-i-have-made-as-much-of-my-life-as-i-should-have-i/) [Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arthur-m-schlesinger-jr/) > [Some books are not read in the right way because they have skipped a stage of opinion, assume a crystallization of information in society…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/doris-lessing/some-books-are-not-read-in-the-right-way-because-they-have-skipped-a/) [Doris Lessing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/doris-lessing/) > [“People talk about books that write themselves, and it's a lie. Books don't write themselves. It takes thought and research and a backache and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neil-gaiman/people-talk-about-books-that-write-themselves-and-it-s-a-lie-books/) [Neil Gaiman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neil-gaiman/) > [There are great books in this world and great worlds in books.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-bronte/there-are-great-books-in-this-world-and-great-worlds-in-books/) [Anne Bronte](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-bronte/) > [The purpose of this book is to supply, in the form suitable for laymen, guidance in the adoption and execution of an investment policy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/benjamin-graham/the-purpose-of-this-book-is-to-supply-in-the-form-suitable-for-laymen/) [Benjamin Graham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/benjamin-graham/) > [But I think that of all the literature that I studied, the book that did more than any other to fire my enthusiasm was…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kwame-nkrumah/but-i-think-that-of-all-the-literature-that-i-studied-the-book-that/) [Kwame Nkrumah](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kwame-nkrumah/) > [It's amazing to see things that are suggested in the book fully developed and so brilliantly realized through the artistry of the designers.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/suzanne-collins/it-s-amazing-to-see-things-that-are-suggested-in-the-book-fully/) [Suzanne Collins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/suzanne-collins/) > [“But I’ve developed a great reputation for wisdom by ordering more books than I ever had time to read, and reading more books, by…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marilynne-robinson/but-i-ve-developed-a-great-reputation-for-wisdom-by-ordering-more/) [Marilynne Robinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marilynne-robinson/) [Browse all 29,378 Book quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/book/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Do not read good books-life is too short for that-read only the best.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Ernest Dimnet" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-dimnet/do-not-read-good-books-life-is-too-short-for-that-read-only-the-best/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Book" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-dimnet/do-not-read-good-books-life-is-too-short-for-that-read-only-the-best/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/362/ernest-dimnet-22679_book_do-not-read-good-books-life-is-too-short_2055920.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/362/ernest-dimnet-22679_book_do-not-read-good-books-life-is-too-short_2055920.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/362/ernest-dimnet-22679_book_do-not-read-good-books-life-is-too-short_2055920.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Do not read good books-life is too short for that-read only the best.” — Ernest Dimnet", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Ernest Dimnet", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-dimnet/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Do not read good books-life is...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-dimnet/do-not-read-good-books-life-is-too-short-for-that-read-only-the-best/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-dimnet/do-not-read-good-books-life-is-too-short-for-that-read-only-the-best/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```