Book Quote by Marcus Vitruvius Pollio

“Only the learned read old books, and... now... they are of all men the least likely to acquire wisdom by doing so. ...[G]reat scholars…

— C.S. Lewis

Tradition is but a meteor, which, if it once falls, cannot be rekindled. Memory, once interrupted, is not to be recalled. But written learning…

— Samuel Johnson

“For 99 percent of the tenure of humans on earth, nobody could read or write. The great invention had not yet been made. Except…

— Carl Sagan

... in going over the history of all the inventions for which history could be obtained it became more and more clear that in…

— Reginald Fessenden

Ancient history, besides the still unequalled excellence of the writers, is the best instrument for cultivating the historical sense.

— Goldwin Smith

“1897 edition How these papers have been placed in sequence will be made manifest in the reading of them. All needless matters have been…

— Bram Stoker

Books are faithful repositories, which may be awhile neglected or forgotten; but when they are opened again, will again impart their instruction: memory, once…

— Samuel Johnson

“Contrary to Expectation. A wise man, the wonder of his age, taught his disciples from a seemingly inexhaustible store of wisdom. He attributed all…

— Idries Shah

We ought never to be afraid to repeat an ancient truth, when we feel that we can make it more striking by a neater…

— Luc de Clapiers

The mind should be accustomed to make wise reflections, and draw curious conclusions as it goes along; the habitude of which made Pliny the…

— Laurence Sterne

“It required an understanding of theology, and ethics, and ancient religions and philosophies. You had to have a working knowledge in a plethora of…

— Ben Witherington III

In the Phaedrus, Plato argued that the new arrival of writing would revolutionize culture for the worst. He suggested that it would substitute reminiscence…

— Marshall McLuhan