Reading Plutarch, he lost awareness of the gap in time…
““Reading Plutarch, he lost awareness of the gap in time that divided them—much bigger than the gap between Montaigne and us. It does not matter, he wrote, whether a person one loves has been dead for fifteen hundred years or, like his own father at the time, eighteen years. Both are equally remote; both are equally close. Montaigne’s merging of favorite authors with his own father says a lot about how he read: he took up books as if they were people, and welcomed them into his family.””
About This Quote
This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation.
Reading can blur temporal distances, making ancient voices feel immediate and personal.
In simple terms: Books make distant past feel close.
Key Takeaway
Treat books as living companions.
Themes
reading
timelessness
connection
Mood
contemplative
nostalgic
Type
literary
philosophical
When to use this quote
- personal reflection
- literary analysis
- teaching history
Key Concepts
humanism
personal narrative
historical empathy
Questions to Reflect On
- How does treating books as family change your reading?
- What risks arise from collapsing temporal gaps?
A Different Perspective
May overlook historical context differences.