--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: It really is an APPALLING thing to think…" description: "\"“It really is an APPALLING thing to think of the people who have no books...It is only by books that most men and women can lift themselves above the s..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f64/paul-collins-28940_book_it-really-is-an-appalling-thing-to-think_1375852.jpg" --- # It really is an APPALLING thing to think of the people who… ![“It really is an APPALLING thing to think of the people who have no books...It is only by books that most men and women can lift themselves above the sordidness of life. No books! Yet for the greater part of humanity that is the common lot. We may, in fact, divide our fellow-creatures into two…” quote by Paul Collins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f64/paul-collins-28940_book_it-really-is-an-appalling-thing-to-think_1375852.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f64/paul-collins-28940_book_it-really-is-an-appalling-thing-to-think_1375852.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f64/paul-collins-28940_book_it-really-is-an-appalling-thing-to-think_1375852.jpg) > ““It really is an APPALLING thing to think of the people who have no books...It is only by books that most men and women can lift themselves above the sordidness of life. No books! Yet for the greater part of humanity that is the common lot. We may, in fact, divide our fellow-creatures into two branches - those who read books and those who do not.”” [Paul Collins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-collins/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Books are essential for personal growth and escaping life's hardships; those without books remain trapped in mediocrity. **In simple terms:** Books lift people above hardship. Key Takeaway Read to rise above. Themes education literature social inequality Mood hopeful reflective Type inspirational educational When to use this quote - school curricula - public libraries - personal study - community reading programs Key Concepts Human development knowledge access cultural capital Questions to Reflect On - How does reading change your worldview? - What barriers prevent people from accessing books? A Different Perspective Access to books can be limited by poverty or censorship, reducing impact. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Book](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/book/) [Books](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/books/) [Books Men](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/books-men-280050/) [Humanity Common](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/humanity-common-522630/) [Life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life/) [Men and women](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/men-and-women/) [People Books](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/people-books-313541/) [Read Books](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/read-books-250428/) [Think People](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/think-people/) [Writer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writer/) ## Related quotes > [If I read as many books as most men do, I would be as dull-witted as they are.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-hobbes/if-i-read-as-many-books-as-most-men-do-i-would-be-as-dull-witted-as/) [Thomas Hobbes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-hobbes/) > [Read not books alone, but men, and amongst them chiefly thyself.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/francis-quarles/read-not-books-alone-but-men-and-amongst-them-chiefly-thyself/) [Francis Quarles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/francis-quarles/) > [Read not books alone, but men, and amongst them chiefly thyself. If thou find anything questionable there, use the commentary of a severe friend,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/francis-quarles/read-not-books-alone-but-men-and-amongst-them-chiefly-thyself-if-thou/) [Francis Quarles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/francis-quarles/) > [Humanity is our common lot. All men are made of the same clay. There is no difference, at least here on Earth, in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/victor-hugo/humanity-is-our-common-lot-all-men-are-made-of-the-same-clay-there-is/) [Victor Hugo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/victor-hugo/) > [“The fate of humanity is a common destiny of death.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lailah-gifty-akita/the-fate-of-humanity-is-a-common-destiny-of-death/) [Lailah Gifty Akita](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lailah-gifty-akita/) > [Our children ought to be out there on the water. 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If we don't have a sense of what holds us together,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gedeon-naudet-jules-naudet/one-of-the-greatest-challenges-today-is-the-relationship-between/) [Gedeon Naudet Jules Naudet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gedeon-naudet-jules-naudet/) > [Humanity is not common in its views.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mitt-romney/humanity-is-not-common-in-its-views/) [Mitt Romney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mitt-romney/) > [“Humanity has more in common than the differences that separate us.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-giaquinto/humanity-has-more-in-common-than-the-differences-that-separate-us/) [Tom Giaquinto](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-giaquinto/) > [My humanity, in common with all of God's children, gives the greatest flight to my full range of my possibilities.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arthur-ashe/my-humanity-in-common-with-all-of-god-s-children-gives-the-greatest/) [Arthur Ashe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arthur-ashe/) > [But-! I say! The common conventions of humanity-' 'Are all very well for common people.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/but-i-say-the-common-conventions-of-humanity-are-all-very-well-for/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) ## More by Paul Collins > [“What you mean to find matters less than what you do find.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-collins/what-you-mean-to-find-matters-less-than-what-you-do-find/) [Paul Collins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-collins/) > [“Curb your fretting, tadpole, or the frog of your future will fail to croak.' -Thaddeus”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-collins/curb-your-fretting-tadpole-or-the-frog-of-your-future-will-fail-to/) [Paul Collins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-collins/) > [“Autists are the ultimate square pegs, and the problem with pounding a square peg into a round hole is not that the hammering is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-collins/autists-are-the-ultimate-square-pegs-and-the-problem-with-pounding-a/) [Paul Collins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-collins/) > [“…I had a good title already. 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There was a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-collins/i-sometimes-wonder-whether-century-old-ruins-look-so-beautiful-to-us/) [Paul Collins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-collins/) > [“But above all, an author must write passionately and edit passionately.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-collins/but-above-all-an-author-must-write-passionately-and-edit-passionately/) [Paul Collins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-collins/) > [“Think of it: a disability is usually defined in terms of what is missing. … But autism … is as much about what is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-collins/think-of-it-a-disability-is-usually-defined-in-terms-of-what-is/) [Paul Collins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-collins/) > [“Historically, dust jackets are a new concern for authors; you don't see them much before the 1920s. And dust jacket is a strange name…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-collins/historically-dust-jackets-are-a-new-concern-for-authors-you-don-t-see/) [Paul Collins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-collins/) > [“A future owned by yellow journalism was not one most reporters wished to contemplate. Some libraries had already barred the "World" and the "Journal"…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-collins/a-future-owned-by-yellow-journalism-was-not-one-most-reporters-wished/) [Paul Collins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-collins/) > [“Leatherbound books are an expensive form of wallpaper, and yet every English nobleman’s home seems to have had them. Their endless sets of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-collins/leatherbound-books-are-an-expensive-form-of-wallpaper-and-yet-every/) [Paul Collins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-collins/) > [“Put the penis schematic away, he told the coroner.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-collins/put-the-penis-schematic-away-he-told-the-coroner/) [Paul Collins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-collins/) > [“Many people are partial to the notion that . . . all writers are somehow mere vessels for Truth and Beauty when they compose.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-collins/many-people-are-partial-to-the-notion-that-all-writers-are-somehow/) [Paul Collins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-collins/) [Explore all 19 Paul Collins quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-collins/) ## More Book quotes > [I think a new world will arise out of the religious mists when we approach our Bible with the idea that it is not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aiden-wilson-tozer/i-think-a-new-world-will-arise-out-of-the-religious-mists-when-we/) [Aiden Wilson Tozer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aiden-wilson-tozer/) > [If I had a dollar for every time I couldn’t sleep, I could buy a billion locks and finally read a book in peace.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aesop-rock/if-i-had-a-dollar-for-every-time-i-couldn-t-sleep-i-could-buy-a/) [Aesop Rock](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aesop-rock/) > [Young men, especially in America, write to me and ask me to recommend “a course of reading.” Distrust a course of reading! 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There is nothing like a child who knows more about…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/floyd-cooper/i-have-many-who-keep-me-going-i-am-very-fortunate-in-this-sense-there/) [Floyd Cooper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/floyd-cooper/) > [I think books in which people are really happy and things are going well are probably the most challenging novels there are to write,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-quindlen/i-think-books-in-which-people-are-really-happy-and-things-are-going/) [Anna Quindlen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-quindlen/) > [It's like the query letter problem that I just mentioned, magnified a hundredfold. You might be good at telling a story, but that doesn't…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/patrick-rothfuss/it-s-like-the-query-letter-problem-that-i-just-mentioned-magnified-a/) [Patrick Rothfuss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/patrick-rothfuss/) > [I don't think I have made as much of my life as I should have. I should have written more books.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arthur-m-schlesinger-jr/i-don-t-think-i-have-made-as-much-of-my-life-as-i-should-have-i/) [Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arthur-m-schlesinger-jr/) > [Some books are not read in the right way because they have skipped a stage of opinion, assume a crystallization of information in society…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/doris-lessing/some-books-are-not-read-in-the-right-way-because-they-have-skipped-a/) [Doris Lessing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/doris-lessing/) > [“People talk about books that write themselves, and it's a lie. Books don't write themselves. 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