“Yes, books are dangerous. They should be dangerous - they contain ideas.”
Pete Hautman (1952) American children's writer
“There are many books that are mechanically faultless but which contain untrue, unclear, or even nonsensical ideas.”
Language Education in a Knowledge Context (1980)
Context: Of writing that is filled with mechanical and grammatical error, as compared with writing that conforms to the rules of standard edited English. Surely, we do not want to say that there is a necessary correlation between mechanical and editorial accuracy and intellectual substance. There are many books that are mechanically faultless but which contain untrue, unclear, or even nonsensical ideas. Carefully edited writing tells us, not that the writer speaks truly, but that he or she grasps... the manner in which knowledge is usually expressed. The most devastating argument against a paper that is marred by grammatical and rhetorical error is that the writer does not understand the subject.
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Neil Postman106
American writer and academic 1931–2003Related quotes
“A book is simply the container of an idea—like a bottle; what is inside the book is what matters.”
Angela Carter (1940–1992) English novelist
Expletives Deleted: Selected Writings (1992).
“The telephone book is full of facts, but it doesn't contain a single idea.”
Mortimer J. Adler (1902–2001) American philosopher and educator
Source: Connie Robertson (1998). Book of Humorous Quotations. p. 2
John Selden (1584–1654) English jurist and scholar of England's ancient laws and constitution, and of Jewish law
as reported in Josiah Hotchkiss Gilbert, Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), p. 29.
Max Müller (1823–1900) German-born philologist and orientalist
On the Vedas, in India, What can it teach us (1882) Lecture IV <!-- p. 118 -->
Tommy Douglas (1904–1986) Scottish-born Canadian politician
Speech, Saskatchewan Legislature, February 17, 1954.
“All the historical books which contain no lies are extremely tedious.”
Anatole France book The Crime of Sylvestre Bonnard
Les livres d'histoire qui ne mentent pas sont tout fort maussades.
La Bûche [The Log] (December 24, 1849)
The Crime of Sylvestre Bonnard (1881)
Variant: History books that contain no lies are extremely dull.
Benjamin Disraeli (1804–1881) British Conservative politician, writer, aristocrat and Prime Minister
Source: Books, Coningsby (1844), Lothair (1870), Ch. 29.