With me, travelling is frankly a vice. The temptation to indulge in it is one which I find almost as hard to resist as the temptation to read promiscuously, omnivorously and without purpose. From time to time, it is true, I make a desperate resolution to mend my ways. I sketch out programmes of useful, serious reading; I try to turn my rambling voyages into systematic tours through the history of art and civilization. But without much success. After a little I relapse into my old bad ways. Deplorable weakness! I try to comfort myself with the hope that even my vices may be of some profit to me.
From Aldous Huxley, Along the Road: Notes and Essays of a Tourist (1925).
4 comments:
Oh, I think that serious reading is overrated. I'm all in favor of just reading whatever you want, whenever you can.
Thanks so much for contributing to my "cool girls from children's literature" list! You have some great suggestions that I (obviously) didn't think of. Katie John, in particular, had popped into and out of my head before I had a chance to add her to the list. I'll be updating the list this weekend. Thanks for helping me to round it out!
I love how decadent Huxley is. "Deplorable weakness"! Reading "promiscuously, omnivorously and without purpose"!
He has to be one of the most deliciously sinful writer I've ever encountered. "Point Counter Point" drips with this kind of stuff.
Excellent quote!
Wow, I really like how Huxley transforms reading without purpose into a sinful exploration, making it so much more attractive! And the last line about vices being of some profit potentially is truly wicked, I think.
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