“Book! You lie there; the fact is, you books must know your places. You'll do to give us the bare words and facts, but we come in to supply the thoughts.”

— Herman Melville

Source: Moby-Dick or, The Whale

Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "Book! You lie there; the fact is, you books must know your places. You'll do to give us the bare words and facts, but w…" by Herman Melville?

Herman Melville 144

American novelist, short story writer, essayist, and poet 1818–1891

Related quotes

“Come to a book as you would come to an unexplored land. Come without a map. Explore it, and draw your own map…. A book is like a pump. It gives nothing unless first you give to it.”

Stephen King book Hearts in Atlantis

Source: Hearts in Atlantis

“You will want a book which contains not man's thoughts, but God's — not a book that may amuse you, but a book that can save you — not even a book that can instruct you, but a book on which you can venture an eternity — not only a book which can give relief to your spirit, but redemption to your soul — a book which contains salvation, and conveys it to you, one which shall at once be the Saviour's book and the sinner's.”

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.

“We are in a degenerate state of self-government. In fact, even to use the words self-government, is not only an exaggeration, it's a lie. It's a big lie!”

Jerry Brown (1938) American politician/lawyer and current governor of California

Speaking to the International Transpersonal Association Conference in Santa Clara, California, 10 June 1995.
Political Consciousness and Transformative Action, LeapNonprofit.org, League for Earth & Animal Protection (LEAP), 2007-06-12 http://www.leapnonprofit.org/phil%20article4.htm,
1995

“When you have mastered the numbers, you will in fact no longer be reading numbers, any more than you read words when reading a book. You will be reading meanings.”

Harold Geneen (1910–1997) American businessman

Managing, Chapter Nine (The Numbers), p. 151.

“We must know all the facts and hear all the alternatives and listen to all the criticisms. Let us welcome controversial books and controversial authors. For the Bill of Rights is the guardian of our security as well as our liberty.”

John F. Kennedy (1917–1963) 35th president of the United States of America

Saturday Review (29 October 1960), p. 44
1960
Context: If this nation is to be wise as well as strong, if we are to achieve our destiny, then we need more new ideas for more wise men reading more good books in more public libraries. These libraries should be open to all — except the censor. We must know all the facts and hear all the alternatives and listen to all the criticisms. Let us welcome controversial books and controversial authors. For the Bill of Rights is the guardian of our security as well as our liberty.