Let me post here some quotes I had noted down on a piece of paper a few years back. So they will not be completely lost.
Books speak of the future.
A.P.
Without books God is silent; justice sleeps; science stops; philosophy limps, letters are mute; we sink into barbarism.
Thomas Bartholin “De Libris Legendis” Copenhagen 1672.
Books without knowledge of life are useless.
Dr. Johnson
I cannot sit and think, books think for me.
A.P.(?)
When he was having dinner with friends, Sir. Thomas Moore, at his home had a servant reading a book.
Lord Lytton told to his son: do you want new ideas? Read old books. Do you want old ideas? Read new books.
![joanina_20library__20university_20of_20coimbra__20portugal_[1]](https://www.gingkoedizioni.it/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/joanina_20library__20university_20of_20coimbra__20portugal_1-266x400.jpg)
Joanina Library, Coimbra, Portugal.
Kipling said that when we read a new book we get the impression that the world if going forward, but actually it is repeating itself.
Pro captu lectoris habens sua fata libelli.
Terentius
According to Disraeli the Duke of Wellington in all his life read only Caesar’s Commentaries.
Emperor Julian wrote: some love horses, some hunting dogs, some other hawks, but me since I was a child I was seized by the desire to own books.
Angelica Library, Rome.
A man buy a book just because he hopes that with it he will be less lonely.
A.P.
I could go on, but I’ll stop here today.
I just took a peep at Wikipedia, I confess, Angelo, to trace Terentius’s “pro captu lectoris habent sua fata libelli,” or ‘according to the capabilities of the reader, books have theirs destinies.’ There are many hints of discussion indeed, but the first thing I thought was about the tremendous power of synthesis Romans had. In only one phrase they were able to encapsulate an entire world, and deep concepts or truths. In this case Terentius seems a marketing manager who speaks about market segmentation, and so giving many authors a drop of hope: there will be a small niche (maybe microscopic), but there will be someone in the world interested in their writings eventually! The problem is how to intercept this niche. At the end, those ‘fata’ or destinies seem very sad indeed.
Thank you, Ciriaco. Yes, Terentius maxim is often quoted in its shortened form ‘Habent sua fata libelli.’ But the first part better clarify what he meant.