I find this to be a very relevant and powerful statement.
Some people may argue that a person who knows how to read has an advantage over someone who doesn't know how to read because they still posses the ability and potential to read. However, Mark Twain implies that simply having the ability to do something does not do a person any good if he or she does not choose to utilize it [the ability].
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I think this was on Gregory's 101 quotes?
I thought it most profound. Talk about a 'waste of a life' (John Piper) ...or a waste of God given abilities and gifts. To possess talents at one's finger tips and not to use them is grievous.
One could be a Mozart, but if one doesn't play , no one gets blessed.
One could be clumsy at the keys, but if that person puts 90 % of their efforts into it, they come out the maestro instead!
And will bless the hearers of it.
It does indeed make good sense to use the abilities that one has. It is also well worth noting that Christians are called to utilize the gifts that the Lord has given them.
Romans 12: 4-8
4 Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, 5 so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. 6 We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man’s gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his[b] faith. 7 If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; 8 if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully.
I don't know of Twain said the same thing more than once, but the quote I found by him reads: "The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who can’t read them." -Mark Twain
To me, this makes even more sense than the one above, with the modifier of "good books." Even if you can read, you can use that talent to read absolute garbage. I think that Twain here is saying that if you have the talent of reading, you should use it to read books of deep and important significance in order to expand your mind and expand your knowledge. If you have the talent of reading, and if you only read trashy novels, it will have the same effect as being illiterate.