Meaning of “Thus it is: added difficulty, added beauty;”

Walden, chapter “Reading,” in the discussion of books that can reveal new possibilities and answer enduring questions.

Thrift, Chapter I, “Industry,” Project Gutenberg #14418. Smiles broadens his defence of labour from material production to art, literature, science and knowledge; the universal wording is his historical moral claim, not an empirical rule that effort alone guarantees greatness.

An Essay on Criticism, Part II; Pope warns that shallow learning can produce premature confidence before deeper study tempers judgment.

On the Art of Writing, Lecture XII, “On Style,” Project Gutenberg #17470; excerpted from Quiller-Couch’s summary of the course.

Poem commonly titled “A Book,” later known by its opening line; first two lines of the poem.

Discourses of Epictetus, Book II, Chapter XVIII, “How we should struggle against appearances,” George Long translation; 1877 George Bell & Sons witness on Wikisource, cross-checked against Project Gutenberg #10661. Epictetus explains that habits and faculties are maintained by corresponding actions: “If you would be a good reader, read; if a writer, write.”