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As centuries of dictators have known, an illiterate crowd is easiest to rule; since the craft of reading cannot be untaught once it has been acquired, the second-best recourse is to limit its scope.

— 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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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.