Books, books, books in all their aspects, in form and spirit, their physical selves and what reading releases from their hieroglyphic pages, in their sight and smell, in their touch and feel to the questing hand, and in the intellectual music which they sing to the thoughtful brain and loving heart, books are to me the best of all symbols, the realest of all reality.
Interpretation
This quote emphasizes the profound impact of books on the mind and heart, celebrating their physical and intellectual qualities.
Lawrence Clark Powell expresses a deep admiration for books, viewing them not merely as physical objects but as vessels that ignite imagination and thought. He highlights their various sensory aspects as well as their ability to release complex ideas and emotions, suggesting that books symbolize the essence of reality and the richness of human experience.
In practice
In a speech about the importance of literacy, one could quote Powell to emphasize the transformative power of books.
A book is one of the most patient of all man's inventions. Centuries mean nothing to a well-made book. It awaits its destined reader, come when he may, with eager hand and seeing eye. Then occurs one of the great examples of union, that of a man with a book, pleasurable, sometimes fruitful, potentially world-changing, simple; and in a library...witho ut cost to the reader.
Books themselves need no defense. Their spokesmen come and go, their readers live and die, they remain constant.
I can speak of my own criterion for judging whether or not a book is good or bad. I ask of it a single question, From how deep and true an impulse did it spring? Was it written merely to shock? Only to make money? Or was it written to create something more perfect and more lasting than the life experience from which it came?
No university in the world has ever risen to greatness without a correspondingly great library... When this is no longer true, then will our civilization have come to an end.
What makes a book great, a so-called classic, it its quality of always being modern, of its author, though he be long dead, continuing to speak to each new generation.
This is the gift all writers seek-to write language that incandesces yet does not melt.
Nature and education are somewhat similar. The latter transforms man, and in so doing creates a second nature.
A conventional truth can be important - it's essential to learn elementary mathematics, for example - but it won't give you an edge. It's not a secret.
Education is preparation to live completely.
Can teachers successfully educate children to think for themselves if teachers are not treated as professionals who think for themselves?
Are you a reader? If you aren't a reader, you might as well forget trying to be a writer.
When I began going to school and learned to read, I encountered stories of other people and other lands.
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