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The grammarian Callimachus used to say that a big book is equivalent to a big evil.

— Callimachus

Καλλίμαχος ὁ γραμματικὸς τὸ μέγα βιβλίον ἴσον ἔλεγεν εἶναι τῷ μεγάλῳ κακῷ.

Original text (Ancient Greek)

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Notes from Wikiquote

Paraphrases | A big book is a big misfortune. (A. W. Bulloch, 1985) | A great book is like great evil. (E. M. Knowles, 1999)

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Books

More quotes by Callimachus

Surely much knowledge is a grievous thing for him who does not control his tongue; this man is really a child with a knife.

The gods always give small things to small men.

May I not keep concealed anything that is good.

He sware: but what they say is true—that lovers' oaths enter not the ears of the immortals.

When I speak fiction, be it such fiction as persuades the listener's ear!

All Callimachus quotes →

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

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

Logan Pearsall Smith Afterthoughts (1931)

Attribution

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