--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: The book borrower...proves himself to be…" description: "\"The book borrower...proves himself to be an inveterate collector of books not so much by the fervor with which he guards his borrowed treasures...as by..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6b5/walter-benjamin-1723_book_the-book-borrower-proves-himself-to-be-a_1503041.jpg" --- # The book borrower...proves himself to be an inveterate… ![“The book borrower...proves himself to be an inveterate collector of books not so much by the fervor with which he guards his borrowed treasures...as by his failure to read these books.” quote by Walter Benjamin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6b5/walter-benjamin-1723_book_the-book-borrower-proves-himself-to-be-a_1503041.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6b5/walter-benjamin-1723_book_the-book-borrower-proves-himself-to-be-a_1503041.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6b5/walter-benjamin-1723_book_the-book-borrower-proves-himself-to-be-a_1503041.jpg) > “The book borrower...proves himself to be an inveterate collector of books not so much by the fervor with which he guards his borrowed treasures...as by his failure to read these books.” [Walter Benjamin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-benjamin/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Collecting books without reading them shows a false devotion to knowledge, valuing possession over understanding. **In simple terms:** Owning books isn’t enough without reading them. Key Takeaway Read what you own. Themes knowledge reading possession intellectual honesty Mood reflective critical Type observational philosophical When to use this quote - personal libraries - academic research - self‑education - book clubs - library curation Key Concepts bibliophilia self‑deception learning literature Questions to Reflect On - Do you own more books than you’ve read? - How does reading change the value of a book? A Different Perspective Possession can become a substitute for engagement, leading to superficiality. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Book](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/book/) [Books](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/books/) [Borrower](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/borrower/) [Collectors](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/collectors/) [Failure](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/failure/) [Treasure](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/treasure/) [Writer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writer/) ## Related quotes > [“The book borrower… proves himself to be an in venerate collector of books not so much by the fervor with which he guards his…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-benjamin/the-book-borrower-proves-himself-to-be-an-in-venerate-collector-of/) [Walter Benjamin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-benjamin/) > [Debt is a mistake between lender and borrower, and both should suffer.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nassim-nicholas-taleb/debt-is-a-mistake-between-lender-and-borrower-and-both-should-suffer/) [Nassim Nicholas Taleb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nassim-nicholas-taleb/) > [The borrower is slave to the lender and the debtor to the creditor.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/benjamin-franklin/the-borrower-is-slave-to-the-lender-and-the-debtor-to-the-creditor/) [Benjamin Franklin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/benjamin-franklin/) > [Neither a borrower nor a lender be, for loan oft loses both itself and friend, and borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-shakespeare/neither-a-borrower-nor-a-lender-be-for-loan-oft-loses-both-itself-and-2/) [William Shakespeare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-shakespeare/) > [The borrower runs in his own debt.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/the-borrower-runs-in-his-own-debt/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) > [The shoulders of a borrower are always a little straighter than those of a beggar.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/the-shoulders-of-a-borrower-are-always-a-little-straighter-than-those/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [I'm no innovator. If anything I'm a stealer, or borrower. I've stolen or borrowed from more people than you can shake a stick at.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bear-bryant/i-m-no-innovator-if-anything-i-m-a-stealer-or-borrower-i-ve-stolen-or/) [Bear Bryant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bear-bryant/) > [The rich is the one that rules over those of little means, and the borrower is servant to the man doing the lending.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/solomon/the-rich-is-the-one-that-rules-over-those-of-little-means-and-the/) [Solomon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/solomon/) > [Control your generosity when dealing with a chronic borrower.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/control-your-generosity-when-dealing-with-a-chronic-borrower/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“It is possible that the most misunderstood man upon earth is the collector of books…”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vincent-starrett/it-is-possible-that-the-most-misunderstood-man-upon-earth-is-the/) [Vincent Starrett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vincent-starrett/) > [My specialty as a collector is books that almost have value. When I love a book, I don't buy the first edition, because those…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lev-grossman/my-specialty-as-a-collector-is-books-that-almost-have-value-when-i/) [Lev Grossman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lev-grossman/) > [A borrower may not lend the thing he borrowed.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vikrant-parsai/a-borrower-may-not-lend-the-thing-he-borrowed/) [Vikrant Parsai](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vikrant-parsai/) > [Any informed borrower is simply less vulnerable to fraud and abuse.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-greenspan/any-informed-borrower-is-simply-less-vulnerable-to-fraud-and-abuse/) [Alan Greenspan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-greenspan/) > [“We have allowed Satan to flip the coin over on the other side and put the Body of Christ in debt to the world.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenneth-copeland/we-have-allowed-satan-to-flip-the-coin-over-on-the-other-side-and-put/) [Kenneth Copeland](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenneth-copeland/) > [Neither a borrower nor a lender be. For loan oft loses both itself and friend, And borrowing dulleth edge of husbandry.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-shakespeare/neither-a-borrower-nor-a-lender-be-for-loan-oft-loses-both-itself-and/) [William Shakespeare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-shakespeare/) ## More by Walter Benjamin > [All efforts to render politics aesthetic culminate in one thing: war.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-benjamin/all-efforts-to-render-politics-aesthetic-culminate-in-one-thing-war/) [Walter Benjamin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-benjamin/) > [“The construction of life is at present in the power of facts far more than of convictions, and of such facts as have scarcely…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-benjamin/the-construction-of-life-is-at-present-in-the-power-of-facts-far-more/) [Walter Benjamin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-benjamin/) > [“It should be pointed out that certain correlative concepts retain their meaning, and possibly their foremost significance, if they are referred exclusively to man.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-benjamin/it-should-be-pointed-out-that-certain-correlative-concepts-retain/) [Walter Benjamin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-benjamin/) > [Allegories are, in the realm of thought, what ruins are in the realm of things.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-benjamin/allegories-are-in-the-realm-of-thought-what-ruins-are-in-the-realm-of/) [Walter Benjamin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-benjamin/) > [Things are only mannequins and even the great world-historical events are only costumes beneath which they exchange glances with nothingness.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-benjamin/things-are-only-mannequins-and-even-the-great-world-historical-events/) [Walter Benjamin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-benjamin/) > [“to great writers, finished works weigh lighter than those fragments on which they labor their entire lives.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-benjamin/to-great-writers-finished-works-weigh-lighter-than-those-fragments-on/) [Walter Benjamin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-benjamin/) > [All religions have honored the beggar. 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But in its tenacious self-absorption it embraces dead objects in its contemplation, in order to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-benjamin/melancholy-betrays-the-world-for-the-sake-of-knowledge-but-in-its/) [Walter Benjamin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-benjamin/) > [For what is the program of the bourgeois parties? A bad poem on springtime, filled to bursting with metaphors.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-benjamin/for-what-is-the-program-of-the-bourgeois-parties-a-bad-poem-on/) [Walter Benjamin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-benjamin/) > [There was the pedestrian who wedged himself into the crowd, but there was also the flneur who demanded elbow room and was unwilling to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-benjamin/there-was-the-pedestrian-who-wedged-himself-into-the-crowd-but-there/) [Walter Benjamin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-benjamin/) > [The power of a text is different when it is read from when it is copied out. Only the copied text thus commands the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-benjamin/the-power-of-a-text-is-different-when-it-is-read-from-when-it-is/) [Walter Benjamin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-benjamin/) > [Quotations in my work are like wayside robbers who leap out armed and relieve the stroller of his conviction.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-benjamin/quotations-in-my-work-are-like-wayside-robbers-who-leap-out-armed-and/) [Walter Benjamin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-benjamin/) > [Each morning the day lies like a fresh shirt on our bed; this incomparably fine, incomparably tightly woven tissue of pure prediction fits us…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-benjamin/each-morning-the-day-lies-like-a-fresh-shirt-on-our-bed-this/) [Walter Benjamin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-benjamin/) [Explore all 207 Walter Benjamin quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-benjamin/) ## 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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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. It takes thought and research and a backache and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neil-gaiman/people-talk-about-books-that-write-themselves-and-it-s-a-lie-books/) [Neil Gaiman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neil-gaiman/) > [There are great books in this world and great worlds in books.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-bronte/there-are-great-books-in-this-world-and-great-worlds-in-books/) [Anne Bronte](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-bronte/) > [The purpose of this book is to supply, in the form suitable for laymen, guidance in the adoption and execution of an investment policy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/benjamin-graham/the-purpose-of-this-book-is-to-supply-in-the-form-suitable-for-laymen/) [Benjamin Graham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/benjamin-graham/) > [But I think that of all the literature that I studied, the book that did more than any other to fire my enthusiasm was…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kwame-nkrumah/but-i-think-that-of-all-the-literature-that-i-studied-the-book-that/) [Kwame Nkrumah](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kwame-nkrumah/) > [It's amazing to see things that are suggested in the book fully developed and so brilliantly realized through the artistry of the designers.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/suzanne-collins/it-s-amazing-to-see-things-that-are-suggested-in-the-book-fully/) [Suzanne Collins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/suzanne-collins/) > [“But I’ve developed a great reputation for wisdom by ordering more books than I ever had time to read, and reading more books, by…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marilynne-robinson/but-i-ve-developed-a-great-reputation-for-wisdom-by-ordering-more/) [Marilynne Robinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marilynne-robinson/) [Browse all 29,378 Book quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/book/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "The book borrower...proves himself to be an inveterate collector of books not so much by the fervor with which he guards his borrowed treasures...as by his failure to read these books.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Walter Benjamin" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-benjamin/the-book-borrower-proves-himself-to-be-an-inveterate-collector-of/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Book" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-benjamin/the-book-borrower-proves-himself-to-be-an-inveterate-collector-of/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6b5/walter-benjamin-1723_book_the-book-borrower-proves-himself-to-be-a_1503041.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6b5/walter-benjamin-1723_book_the-book-borrower-proves-himself-to-be-a_1503041.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6b5/walter-benjamin-1723_book_the-book-borrower-proves-himself-to-be-a_1503041.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“The book borrower...proves himself to be an inveterate collector of books not so much by the fervor with…” — Walter Benjamin", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Walter Benjamin", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-benjamin/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "The book borrower...proves himself to be...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-benjamin/the-book-borrower-proves-himself-to-be-an-inveterate-collector-of/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-benjamin/the-book-borrower-proves-himself-to-be-an-inveterate-collector-of/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```