We find little in a book but what we put there. But in great books, the mind finds room to put many things.

[On ne trouve guère dans un livre que ce qu’on y met. Mais dans les beaux livres, l’esprit trouve une place où il peut mettre beaucoup de choses.]

Joseph Joubert (1754-1824) French moralist, philosopher, essayist, poet

Pensées [Thoughts], ch. 23 “Des Qualités de l’Écrivain [Of the Qualities of Writers],” ¶ 212 (1850 ed.) [tr. Lyttelton (1899), ch. 22, ¶ 98]

(Source (French)). Alternate translation:

There is little to be found in a book beyond what you bring to it. But in fine books the mind finds place to put many things.
[tr. Collins (1928), ch. 22]