"To hear the classics as a distant echo…" Italo Calvino in "Why Read the Classics?"
That's a good allegory. As if the past resonates within us.
This book deals with death and how we deal with it - or not. The quote is one of the best to show us how books can help us get through the difficult parts of life.
"One benefit of summer was that each day we had more light to read by." Jeannette Walls, The Glass Castle
Aren't we lucky to live in an age where we don't have that problem?
Both Carl Sagan and Robert G. Ingersoll made comments to the same effect -- that a book was a miracle, an artifact of long-gone trees and such, filled with arcane symbols, that allowed minds from the past to suddenly have some kind of existence again. What's more, we could ENGAGE with these minds, to some degree.
ReplyDeleteYou are so right there, Stephen. I've been listing quotes for ages and the meanings often are repeated. But it's always great to find another wise person saying it.
DeleteLove that one about a book being a lifeline when life's seas get too rough. That is SO true.
ReplyDeleteI totally agreed with that, as well, Lark. I just had to translate that quote and post it. Unfortunately, that book has not been translated but I hope it will one day.
DeleteCalvino's book on the classics is brillant. I'm thrilled I managed to read it in Italian. I had decided to teach myself how to read Italian, precisely to read Calvino's books in their original language
ReplyDeleteFantastic, Emma. My Italian is not good enough to read anything like that. Maybe I have to try a children's book. I love Italian.
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