Determination Quotes
It is what you read when you don’t have to that determines what you will be when you can’t help it.
"It is what you read when you don’t have to that determines what you will be when you can’t help it."— Oscar Wilde
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Meaning of this quote
Voluntary reading can gradually shape values, knowledge, and habitual responses. The remark connects private choices with the person those choices help form.
Key takeaway:
Choose some reading that broadens the person you are becoming.
Origin of the quote
Charles Francis Potter’s addresses about reading, reported in 1927.
Who actually said this?
Likely misattributedQuote Investigator traces the expression to Potter and rejects the later Wilde attribution. Some versions add an opening It is.
