"How can a book grow as you grow? It is impossible, of course; **a book, once it is written and published, does not change. But what you only now begin to realize is that the book was so far above you to begin with that it has remained above you**, and probably always will remain so. Since it is a really good book—a great book, as we might say—it is accessible at different levels. Your impression of increased understanding on your previous reading was not false. The book truly lifted you then. But now, even though you have become wiser and more knowledgeable, it can lift you again. And it will go on doing this until you die. There are obviously not many books that can do this for any of us. Our estimate was that the number is considerably less than a hundred. But the number is even less than that for any given reader. Human beings differ in many ways other than in the power of their minds. They have different tastes; different things appeal more to one person than to another." ([Location 4898](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B004PYDAPE&location=4898)) --- **Tags** -- [[quotes]], [[reading-books]] **Source** -- [[20250103084100 - B - How to Read a Book]] Consider, you never step in the same river twice.