“Books are the mirrors of the soul.”

Source: Between the Acts

Last update July 30, 2024. History

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Virginia Woolf 382
English writer 1882–1941

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Variant translations of first portion: A book is a mirror: If an ape peers into it, you can't expect an apostle to look out.
A book is a mirror: If an ass peers into it, you can't expect an apostle to look out. — this has actually been the most commonly cited form, but it is based on either a loose non-literal translation or a mistranslation of the German original: Ein Buch ist Spiegel, aus dem kein Apostel herausgucken kann, wenn ein Affe hineinguckt.
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Context: A book is a mirror: if an ape looks into it an apostle is hardly likely to look out. We have no words for speaking of wisdom to the stupid. He who understands the wise is wise already.

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Reported in Josiah Hotchkiss Gilbert, Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), p. 115.

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