- Buying books would be a good thing if one could also buy the time to read them in: but as a rule the purchase of books is mistaken for the appropriation of their contents.
- To buy books would be a good thing if we could also buy the time to read them; as it is, the mere act of purchasing them is often mistaken for the assimilation and mastering of their contents.
Acheter des livres serait une bonne chose, si l'on pouvait acheter aussi le temps de les lire, mais on confond le plus souvent l'achat d'un livre avec l'appropriation de son contenu.