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Socrates affirmed that only that which the reader already knows can be sparked by a reading, and that the knowledge cannot be acquired through dead letters.

— Alberto Manguel A History of Reading (1996)

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More quotes by Alberto Manguel

In our day, computer technology and the proliferation of books on CD-ROM have not affected - as far as statistics show - the production and sale of books in their old-fashioned codex form.

A History of Reading (1996)

Books read in a public library never have the same flavour as books read in the attic or the kitchen.

A History of Reading (1996)

Every library is a library of preferences, and every chosen category implies an exclusion.

A History of Reading (1996)

Most readers, then and now, have at some time experienced the humiliation of being told that their occupation is reprehensible.

A History of Reading (1996)

In every literate society, learning to read is something of an initiation, a ritualized passage out of a state of dependency and rudimentary communication.

A History of Reading (1996)

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Reading maketh a full man; conference a ready man; and writing an exact man.

Francis Bacon Meditationes sacræ (1597)

It is not in the books of the Philosophers, but in the religious symbolism of the Ancients, that we must look for the footprints of Science, and re-discover the Mysteries of Knowledge.

Albert Pike Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry (1871)

There is more than one way to burn a book. And the world is full of people running about with lit matches.

Ray Bradbury Fahrenheit 451 (1953)

People say that life is the thing, but I prefer reading.

Logan Pearsall Smith Afterthoughts (1931)

Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Alberto Manguel (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.