There comes a point in your life when you need to stop reading other people's books and write your own.
My deep religiosity [...] found an abrupt ending at the age of twelve, through the reading of popular scientific books.
The only thing that you absolutely have to know, is the location of the library.
Reading, after a certain age, diverts the mind too much from its creative pursuits. Any man who reads too much and uses his own brain too little falls into lazy habits of thinking.
When I examine myself and my methods of thought, I come to the conclusion that the gift of fantasy has meant more to me than my talent for absorbing positive knowledge. (Reading this makes me wonder how much sooner man could have walked on the moon... had we listened to a child's fantasies. It is truly a pity that so many lose their gift of imagination to the steady hum of the status quo.)
The time comes in life when we have read enough. It's time to stop reading. It's time to lay down the books and write.
I cannot write in English, because of the treacherous spelling. When I am reading, I only hear it and am unable to remember what the written word looks like.