--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: [My wife] liked to collect old…" description: "\"[My wife] liked to collect old encyclopedias from second-hand bookstores, and at one point we had eight of them. When I wrote my first historical novel..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/75d/robert-anton-wilson-1198_bastille_my-wife-liked-to-collect-old-encyclopedi_864543.jpg" --- # \[My wife\] liked to collect old encyclopedias from… ![“[My wife] liked to collect old encyclopedias from second-hand bookstores, and at one point we had eight of them. When I wrote my first historical novel---back in 1980, before I was online---I used them often as a research tool. For instance, I learned that the Bastille was either 90 feet high or…” quote by Robert Anton Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/75d/robert-anton-wilson-1198_bastille_my-wife-liked-to-collect-old-encyclopedi_864543.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/75d/robert-anton-wilson-1198_bastille_my-wife-liked-to-collect-old-encyclopedi_864543.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/75d/robert-anton-wilson-1198_bastille_my-wife-liked-to-collect-old-encyclopedi_864543.jpg) > “\[My wife\] liked to collect old encyclopedias from second-hand bookstores, and at one point we had eight of them. When I wrote my first historical novel---back in 1980, before I was online---I used them often as a research tool. For instance, I learned that the Bastille was either 90 feet high or 100 feet or 120 feet. This led me to formulate Wilson's 22nd Law: 'Certitude belongs exclusively to those who only look in one encyclopedia.'” [Robert Anton Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-anton-wilson/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Relying on a single source limits understanding; diverse references broaden certainty. **In simple terms:** One source narrows truth. Key Takeaway Seek multiple perspectives for confidence. Themes research methodology information diversity critical thinking Mood analytical curious Type essay philosophical When to use this quote - academic research - writing - historical analysis Key Concepts epistemology source criticism Questions to Reflect On - How do you decide which sources to trust? - When is it acceptable to rely on a single authority? A Different Perspective Too many sources can overwhelm and cause analysis paralysis. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Bastille](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bastille/) [Bookstores](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bookstores/) [Historical](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/historical/) [Historical novels](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/historical-novels/) [Law](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/law/) [Marriage](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/marriage/) [Novel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/novel/) [Research](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/research/) [Second hand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/second-hand/) [Tools](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/tools/) [Wife](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/wife/) ## Related quotes > [Certitude belongs exclusively to those who only look in one encyclopedia.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-anton-wilson/certitude-belongs-exclusively-to-those-who-only-look-in-one/) [Robert Anton Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-anton-wilson/) > [You look into an encyclopedia and ask what fighter can do any type of martial art at a high-caliber level, my picture will show…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/demetrious-johnson/you-look-into-an-encyclopedia-and-ask-what-fighter-can-do-any-type-of/) [Demetrious Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/demetrious-johnson/) > [Bastille Day is just like the Fourth of July except it takes place in France and we don't care about it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/bastille-day-is-just-like-the-fourth-of-july-except-it-takes-place-in/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [ I was in New York 9/11. Mark's \[Wahlberg\] from Boston, flew there immediately after. I was in Nice Bastille Day when the truck drove… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-berg/i-was-in-new-york-9-11-mark-s-wahlberg-from-boston-flew-there/) [Peter Berg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-berg/) > [Besides writing, I have been teaching myself to 'develop' my own photographic plates, and I haven't a stick of clothing or an exposed finger…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bret-harte/besides-writing-i-have-been-teaching-myself-to-develop-my-own/) [Bret Harte](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bret-harte/) > [I didn't know about the rest of the class, but when Bastille Day eventually rolled around, I planned to stay home and clean my…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-sedaris/i-didn-t-know-about-the-rest-of-the-class-but-when-bastille-day/) [David Sedaris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-sedaris/) > [“But if you close your eyes,does it almost feel like nothing changed at all?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bastille-pompeii/but-if-you-close-your-eyes-does-it-almost-feel-like-nothing-changed/) Bastille Pompeii > [“Still, the Doctor walked among the terrors with a steady head. No man better known than he, in Paris at that day; no man…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-dickens/still-the-doctor-walked-among-the-terrors-with-a-steady-head-no-man/) [Charles Dickens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-dickens/) > [My bad head cannot adjust itself to the way things are… If I want to depict spring, it has to be in wintertime; if…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-jacques-rousseau/my-bad-head-cannot-adjust-itself-to-the-way-things-are-if-i-want-to/) [Jean-Jacques Rousseau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-jacques-rousseau/) > [Yes, Bastille. I keep trying to get killed because it's inconvenient for you.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brandon-sanderson/yes-bastille-i-keep-trying-to-get-killed-because-it-s-inconvenient/) [Brandon Sanderson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brandon-sanderson/) > [I would be in my cabana at the Hotel de Cat, and there he would be. Amid all the fireworks on Bastille Day, all…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/blair-waldorf/i-would-be-in-my-cabana-at-the-hotel-de-cat-and-there-he-would-be/) [Blair Waldorf](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/blair-waldorf/) > [In France, the people were the sport of a king's caprice. Everywhere was the shadow of the Bastille. It fell upon the sunniest field,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-green-ingersoll/in-france-the-people-were-the-sport-of-a-king-s-caprice-everywhere/) [Robert Green Ingersoll](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-green-ingersoll/) > [What is this much repeated phrase 'active citizen' supposed to mean? The active citizens are the ones who took the Bastille.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/camille-desmoulins/what-is-this-much-repeated-phrase-active-citizen-supposed-to-mean-the/) [Camille Desmoulins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/camille-desmoulins/) > [“When the Washington Post telephoned me at home on Valentine's Day 1989 to ask my opinion about the Ayatollah Khomeini's fatwah , I felt…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christopher-hitchens/when-the-washington-post-telephoned-me-at-home-on-valentine-s-day/) [Christopher Hitchens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christopher-hitchens/) > [“date of our first anniversary, Jamie had been in the Bastille, and I … I had been in”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/diana-gabaldon/date-of-our-first-anniversary-jamie-had-been-in-the-bastille-and-i-i/) [Diana Gabaldon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/diana-gabaldon/) ## More by Robert Anton Wilson > [Every fact of science was once Damned. Every invention was considered impossible. Every discovery was a nervous shock to some orthodoxy. Every artistic innovation…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-anton-wilson/every-fact-of-science-was-once-damned-every-invention-was-considered/) [Robert Anton Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-anton-wilson/) > [The only way to stave off boredom, in a complex domesticated primate like humankind, is to increase one's intelligence. This is not appealing to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-anton-wilson/the-only-way-to-stave-off-boredom-in-a-complex-domesticated-primate/) [Robert Anton Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-anton-wilson/) > [Disobedience was man's Original Virtue.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-anton-wilson/disobedience-was-man-s-original-virtue/) [Robert Anton Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-anton-wilson/) > [In every state of the Union, Fundamentalists still fight to ban all the science they dislike and prosecute all who teach it. To them,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-anton-wilson/in-every-state-of-the-union-fundamentalists-still-fight-to-ban-all/) [Robert Anton Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-anton-wilson/) > [It is a great privilege to be conscious in this universe. Those who understand, shine like stars.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-anton-wilson/it-is-a-great-privilege-to-be-conscious-in-this-universe-those-who/) [Robert Anton Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-anton-wilson/) > [I will do anything, including highway robbery and murder, to avoid leaving my children in poverty.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-anton-wilson/i-will-do-anything-including-highway-robbery-and-murder-to-avoid/) [Robert Anton Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-anton-wilson/) > [I see anarchism as the theoretical ideal to which we are all gradually evolving to a point where everybody can tell the truth to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-anton-wilson/i-see-anarchism-as-the-theoretical-ideal-to-which-we-are-all/) [Robert Anton Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-anton-wilson/) > [“Masturbation is not the happiest form of sexuality, but the most advisable for him who wants to be alone and think. I detect the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-anton-wilson/masturbation-is-not-the-happiest-form-of-sexuality-but-the-most/) [Robert Anton Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-anton-wilson/) > [I like pacifists and people who have a heavy emotional identification with deathism and war would probably call me a pacifist, but I am…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-anton-wilson/i-like-pacifists-and-people-who-have-a-heavy-emotional-identification/) [Robert Anton Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-anton-wilson/) > [Cynics regarded everybody as equally corrupt... Idealists regarded everybody as equally corrupt, except themselves.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-anton-wilson/cynics-regarded-everybody-as-equally-corrupt-idealists-regarded/) [Robert Anton Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-anton-wilson/) > [The most important truths always appear first as blasphemies or obscenities. That's why every great innovator is persecuted. And the sacraments look obscene, too,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-anton-wilson/the-most-important-truths-always-appear-first-as-blasphemies-or/) [Robert Anton Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-anton-wilson/) > [“When you're dealing with these forces or powers in a philosophic and scientific way, contemplating them from an armchair, that rationalistic approach is useful.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-anton-wilson/when-you-re-dealing-with-these-forces-or-powers-in-a-philosophic-and/) [Robert Anton Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-anton-wilson/) > [“And Spaceship Earth, that glorious and bloody circus, continued its four-billion-year-long spiral orbit about the Sun; the engineering, I must admit, was so exquisite…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-anton-wilson/and-spaceship-earth-that-glorious-and-bloody-circus-continued-its/) [Robert Anton Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-anton-wilson/) > [Existence is larger than any model that is not itself the exact size of existence (which has no size).](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-anton-wilson/existence-is-larger-than-any-model-that-is-not-itself-the-exact-size/) [Robert Anton Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-anton-wilson/) > [The totally convinced and the totally stupid have too much in common for the resemblance to be accidental.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-anton-wilson/the-totally-convinced-and-the-totally-stupid-have-too-much-in-common/) [Robert Anton Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-anton-wilson/) [Explore all 274 Robert Anton Wilson quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-anton-wilson/) ## More Bastille quotes > [Bastille Day is just like the Fourth of July except it takes place in France and we don't care about it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/bastille-day-is-just-like-the-fourth-of-july-except-it-takes-place-in/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“When the Washington Post telephoned me at home on Valentine's Day 1989 to ask my opinion about the Ayatollah Khomeini's fatwah , I felt…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christopher-hitchens/when-the-washington-post-telephoned-me-at-home-on-valentine-s-day/) [Christopher Hitchens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christopher-hitchens/) > [What is this much repeated phrase 'active citizen' supposed to mean? The active citizens are the ones who took the Bastille.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/camille-desmoulins/what-is-this-much-repeated-phrase-active-citizen-supposed-to-mean-the/) [Camille Desmoulins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/camille-desmoulins/) > [In France, the people were the sport of a king's caprice. Everywhere was the shadow of the Bastille. It fell upon the sunniest field,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-green-ingersoll/in-france-the-people-were-the-sport-of-a-king-s-caprice-everywhere/) [Robert Green Ingersoll](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-green-ingersoll/) > [I would be in my cabana at the Hotel de Cat, and there he would be. Amid all the fireworks on Bastille Day, all…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/blair-waldorf/i-would-be-in-my-cabana-at-the-hotel-de-cat-and-there-he-would-be/) [Blair Waldorf](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/blair-waldorf/) > [Yes, Bastille. I keep trying to get killed because it's inconvenient for you.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brandon-sanderson/yes-bastille-i-keep-trying-to-get-killed-because-it-s-inconvenient/) [Brandon Sanderson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brandon-sanderson/) > [My bad head cannot adjust itself to the way things are… If I want to depict spring, it has to be in wintertime; if…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-jacques-rousseau/my-bad-head-cannot-adjust-itself-to-the-way-things-are-if-i-want-to/) [Jean-Jacques Rousseau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-jacques-rousseau/) > [“Still, the Doctor walked among the terrors with a steady head. No man better known than he, in Paris at that day; no man…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-dickens/still-the-doctor-walked-among-the-terrors-with-a-steady-head-no-man/) [Charles Dickens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-dickens/) > [“But if you close your eyes,does it almost feel like nothing changed at all?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bastille-pompeii/but-if-you-close-your-eyes-does-it-almost-feel-like-nothing-changed/) Bastille Pompeii > [I didn't know about the rest of the class, but when Bastille Day eventually rolled around, I planned to stay home and clean my…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-sedaris/i-didn-t-know-about-the-rest-of-the-class-but-when-bastille-day/) [David Sedaris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-sedaris/) > [Besides writing, I have been teaching myself to 'develop' my own photographic plates, and I haven't a stick of clothing or an exposed finger…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bret-harte/besides-writing-i-have-been-teaching-myself-to-develop-my-own/) [Bret Harte](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bret-harte/) > [ I was in New York 9/11. Mark's \[Wahlberg\] from Boston, flew there immediately after. I was in Nice Bastille Day when the truck drove… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-berg/i-was-in-new-york-9-11-mark-s-wahlberg-from-boston-flew-there/) [Peter Berg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-berg/) > [“date of our first anniversary, Jamie had been in the Bastille, and I … I had been in”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/diana-gabaldon/date-of-our-first-anniversary-jamie-had-been-in-the-bastille-and-i-i/) [Diana Gabaldon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/diana-gabaldon/) > [“The Bastille, where I live, is best known as the site where the infamous prison was seized and ransacked by the masses, igniting the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-lebovitz/the-bastille-where-i-live-is-best-known-as-the-site-where-the/) [David Lebovitz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-lebovitz/) > [Most of the crew were staying in Monaco. But my family and I were actually staying in Nice because I had my whole family…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jamie-dornan/most-of-the-crew-were-staying-in-monaco-but-my-family-and-i-were/) [Jamie Dornan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jamie-dornan/) [Browse all 22 Bastille quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bastille/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "[My wife] liked to collect old encyclopedias from second-hand bookstores, and at one point we had eight of them. When I wrote my first historical novel---back in 1980, before I was online---I used them often as a research tool. For instance, I learned that the Bastille was either 90 feet high or 100 feet or 120 feet. 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