The Background for Good Conversation : Page 107

It is for emotional adjustment that one must read literature proper — poetry, drama, and fiction. To describe their full value is beyond the scope here. Their true function is to give us wisdom, balance, emotional perspective and calm. They give us vicarious experience, they make us sympathize with the other fellow, and they help us to see ourselves as others see us. As philosophic books should give us peace of mind, as religious books should give us peace of soul, so poems, novels, plays should give us peace of heart. Since the soul never fully rests, as St. Augustine wrote, until it rests in God, this triple peace — of mind, of soul, of heart — cannot in this "vale of tears" be fully realized. But even the smallest progress toward such peace is an enormous gain — for ourselves and for those with whom we associate. That poetry, drama, and fiction further peace of heart is the feeling of the collective wisdom of the human race, which I wish the reader would here accept on my word. Peace of heart cannot be weighed and measured, nor can it be whistled on or whistled off. It is a development. Nor, while one can trust to some effect, can one say precisely how much any one good novel does affect it.