Karl Barth, like the nun in The Blues Brothers, beats me into submission with his chastisement of book collectors and veracious readers.  I am ashamed...

Barth, writing in fluent English, enscribes:

Meaning of life?
Collecting books? No, read them!
Reading them? No, think about!
Thinking about? No, do something for God and for your neighbour!
—Karl Barth, February 11th, 1954

The really shameful, and particularly ironic, thing about this is that in his greatness Barth is only spurring me on to collect his books and read them!  But the prolific writer is spot on, when he speaks of us loving, not in word and speech but in deed and truth.  Only then will we have actually learned anything from the Bible or his books, when our actions are reflections of the living Word.