“Something about the possession of a book - an object that can contain infinite fables, words of wisdom, chronicles of times gone by, humorous anecdotes and divine revelation - endows the reader with the power of creating a story, and the listener with a sense of being present at the moment of creation.”
Being Read To, p. 120.
A History of Reading (1996)
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Alberto Manguel 63
writer 1948Related quotes

Man in the Modern Age (1933)
Context: The 'public' is a phantom, the phantom of an opinion supposed to exist in a vast number of persons who have no effective interrelation and though the opinion is not effectively present in the units. Such an opinion is spoken of as 'public opinion,' a fiction which is appealed to by individuals and by groups as supporting their special views. It is impalpable, illusory, transient; "'tis here, 'tis there, 'tis gone"; a nullity which can nevertheless for a moment endow the multitude with power to uplift or destroy.

Source: Reason: The Only Oracle Of Man (1784), Ch. II Section I - Of The Eternity of Creation
Context: As creation was the result of eternal and infinite wisdom, justice, goodness, and truth, and effected by infinite power, it is like its great author, mysterious to us. How it could be accomplished, or in what manner performed, can never be comprehended by any capacity.
Eternal, whether applied to duration, existence, action, or creation, is incomprehensible to us, but implies no contradiction in either of them; for that which is above comprehension we cannot perceive to be contradictory, nor on the other hand can we perceive its rationality or consistency.
Source: Younger by the Day: 365 Ways to Rejuvenate Your Body and Revitalize Your Spirit

The Wisdom of Heschel (1970), p. 150

Published in Education Leadership, September 2005 http://www.alfiekohn.org/teaching/uncondtchg.htm