“The man who acquires an encyclopedia does not thereby acquire every line, every paragraph, every page, and every illustration; he acquires the possibility of becoming familiar with one and another of those things.”

—  Jorge Luis Borges

Shakespeare's Memory, (1983); as translated by Andrew Hurley in Collected Fictions (1998)

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "The man who acquires an encyclopedia does not thereby acquire every line, every paragraph, every page, and every illust…" by Jorge Luis Borges?
Jorge Luis Borges photo
Jorge Luis Borges 213
Argentine short-story writer, essayist, poet and translator… 1899–1986

Related quotes

John Lancaster Spalding photo

“We may outgrow the things of children, without acquiring sense and relish for those which become a man.”

John Lancaster Spalding (1840–1916) Catholic bishop

Source: Aphorisms and Reflections (1901), pp. 30-31

Ibn Hazm photo

“The use of science in the practice of virtue, is considerable: the man who knows the beauty of virtue will follow it, however possible. Knowing the evil of wrong, he will avoid it, however possible. He listens to worthy praise, and keeps his distance from unworthy praise. From this is derived that science has a part in every virtue, and that ignorance has one in every vice. Man who is illiterate and who still practices virtue must be extremely pure, a virtuous being. This is the state of Prophets (PBUH) because God had conveyed goodness to them without they acquiring it from men.”

Ibn Hazm (994–1064) Arab theologian

ibid

Mokshagundam Visveshvaraya photo

“Progress in every country depends mainly on the education of its people. Without education, we are a nation of children. The difference between one man and another, apart from birth and social position, consists in the extent of knowledge, general and practical, acquired by him. We may safely assume that man in all countries within certain limits start with the same degree of intelligence. A civilised nation is distinguished from an uncivilised one by the extent of its acquired intelligence and skill.”

Mokshagundam Visveshvaraya (1860–1962) Indian engineer, scholar, statesman and the Diwan of Mysore

Quoted in The Most Celebrated Indian Engineer:Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya, 22 November 2013, Official web site of Government of India: Vigyan Prasar http://www.vigyanprasar.gov.in/dream/feb2000/article1.htm,

Marcus Aurelius photo

“Acquire the contemplative way of seeing how all things change into one another”

Marcus Aurelius book Meditations

X, 11
Meditations (c. 121–180 AD), Book X
Context: Acquire the contemplative way of seeing how all things change into one another, and constantly attend to it, and exercise thyself about this part [of philosophy]. For nothing is so much adapted to produce magnanimity.... But as to what any man shall say or think about him, or do against him, he never even thinks of it, being himself contented with these two things: with acting justly in what he now does, and being satisfied with what is now assigned to him; and he lays aside all distracting and busy pursuits, and desires nothing else than to accomplish the straight course through the law, and by accomplishing the straight course to follow God.

George William Curtis photo

“There is no gentleman in America, but he who feels that every man is his equal in natural right, and who does not know that he is cheated if every man does not have fair play.”

George William Curtis (1824–1892) American writer

1860s, The Good Fight (1865)

Allan Kardec photo

“Spirits incarnate themselves as men or as women, because they are of no sex and, as it is necessary for them to develop themselves in every direction, both sexes, as well as every variety of social position. furnish them with special trials and duties, and with the opportunity of acquiring experience. A spirit who had always incarnated itself as a man would be only known by men, and vice versa.”

Allan Kardec (1804–1869) systematizer of Spiritism

Source: The Spirits' Book, p. 131.

John Von Neumann photo

“It is exceptional that one should be able to acquire the understanding of a process without having previously acquired a deep familiarity with running it, with using it, before one has assimilated it in an instinctive and empirical way… Thus any discussion of the nature of intellectual effort in any field is difficult, unless it presupposes an easy, routine familiarity with that field. In mathematics this limitation becomes very severe.”

John Von Neumann (1903–1957) Hungarian-American mathematician and polymath

As quoted in "The Mathematician" in The World of Mathematics (1956), by James Roy Newman

Fred Hoyle photo

“Once a photograph of the Earth, taken from outside, is available, we shall, in an emotional sense, acquire an additional dimension... Once let the sheer isolation of the Earth become plain to every man, whatever his nationality or creed, and a new idea as powerful as any in history will be let loose.”

Fred Hoyle (1915–2001) British astronomer

1948

Georg Christoph Lichtenberg photo

“Man can acquire accomplishments or he can become an animal, whichever he wants. God makes the animals, man makes himself.”

Georg Christoph Lichtenberg (1742–1799) German scientist, satirist

F 49
Aphorisms (1765-1799), Notebook F (1776-1779)

Related topics