The function of a book or a poem or a story is to delight, to enchant, to beguile.
Philip PullmanRead
The book is second only to the wheel as the best piece of technology human beings have ever invented. A book symbolises the whole intellectual history of mankind; it's the greatest weapon ever devised in the war against stupidity.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Books are among the most important inventions, representing humanity's intellectual advancement and the fight against ignorance.
Philip Pullman's quote emphasizes the transformative power of books and their significance in human history. He argues that books, second only to the wheel, are vital tools in the intellectual development of humanity and serve as the most powerful means in combating ignorance and stupidity. This perspective highlights not only the technological aspect of books but also their role in shaping thoughts, ideas, and society as a whole.
Themes
BooksTechnologyIntellectualHistoryKnowledgeIgnorance
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about the importance of literacy in schools, this quote can emphasize the value of books.
More from Philip Pullman
All quotes →Education and health were always matters of charity. You educated children and you helped the sick because they were good things to do, not because you were going to make money out of them. If you let the money-making principle, the profit-seeking motive, anywhere near education and health, things go bad.
Philip PullmanRead
To get the best out of life here ...Good grief. There's plenty of it about, so indulge. Give yourself some thing to remember. Fall in love. Fall out of love. Gamble. Get drunk. See how long you can stay awake. Go for long walks at night. Discover what you're afraid of doing, and then do it.
Philip PullmanRead
People should decide on the books' meanings for themselves. They'll find a story that attacks such things as cruelty, oppression, intolerance, unkindness, narrow-mindedness, and celebrates love, kindness, open-mindedness, tolerance, curiosity, human intelligence.
Philip PullmanRead
I told him I was going to betray you, and betray Lyra, and he believed me because I was corrupt and full of wickedness; he looked so deep I felt sure he'd see the truth. But I lied too well. I was lying with every nerve and fiber and everything I'd ever done...I wanted him to find no good in me, and he didn't. There is none.
Philip PullmanRead
Lyra learns to her great cost that fantasy isn’t enough. She has been lying all her life, telling stories to people, making up fantasies, and suddenly she comes to a point where that’s not enough. All she can do is tell the truth. She tells the truth about her childhood, about the experiences she had in Oxford, and that is what saves her. True experience, not fantasy - reality, not lies - is what saves us in the end.
Philip PullmanRead
Similar quotes
You think me foolish to call instruction a torment, but if you had been as much used as myself to hear poor little children first learning their letters and then learning to spell, if you had ever seen how stupid they can be for a whole morning together, and how tired my poor mother is at the end of it, as I am in the habit of seeing almost every day of my life at home, you would allow that to torment and to instruct might sometimes be used as synonymous words.
Jane AustenRead
Easy reading is damn hard writing.
Nathaniel HawthorneRead
I went to what can only be described as a slum school in Salford - rough and full of trainee punks - but I was very lucky in that I had one inspiring teacher, John Malone, who gave the whole class an interest in romantic poetry.
John Cooper ClarkeRead
Read widely and with discrimination. Bad writing is contagious.
P. D. JamesRead
Let us take our children seriously! Everything else follows from this... only the best is good enough for a child.
Zoltan KodalyRead
The fact that people can forget these simple truths when intellectualizing about children shows how far modern doctrines have taken us. They make it easy to think of children as lumps of putty to be shaped instead of partners in a human relationship.
Steven PinkerRead