QuoteProject
Books, like proverbs, receive their chief value from the stamp and esteem of the ages through which they have passed.
J. Paul Getty
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

Books gain their significance from the history and respect they have earned over time.

This quote emphasizes the idea that the true worth of books, similar to proverbs, comes not just from their content but from the legacy and reverence they accumulate throughout history. It suggests that the value of literature is deeply intertwined with the cultural context and the appreciation it receives over generations.

Themes

BooksValueHistoryLiteratureCulture

In practice

Example use cases

During a book club meeting, discussing the lasting impact of classic literature.

More from J. Paul Getty

Today's dissenters mainly focus their attention and expend their energies on the most inconsequential of trivia. ...Allegedly serious intellectuals quibble endlessly over such ridiculous trivialities...In the meantime, the public is lulled into a perilous somnolence, spoon-fed pap, and palpable untruths, many of which are turned out by special-interest and pressure groups and well organized propaganda machines.
J. Paul GettyRead
You must not only learn to live with tension, you must seek it out. You must learn to thrive on stress.
J. Paul GettyRead
In times of rapid change, experience could be your worst enemy.
J. Paul GettyRead
The #1 guideline to success is you must be in business for yourself. When you work for someone else, you sell your time at wholesale to your employer, who then re-sells it at retail to the customer.
J. Paul GettyRead
Patience; this is the greatest business asset. Wait for the right time to make your moves.
J. Paul GettyRead
There is only one way to make a great deal of money; and that is in a business of your own.
J. Paul GettyRead

Similar quotes

I have read the Aeneid through more often than I have read any long poem.
C. S. LewisRead
The strongest reason for giving woman all the opportunities for higher education, for the full development of her faculties, her forces of mind and body... is the solitude and personal responsibility of her own individual life.
Elizabeth Cady StantonRead
We must go beyond textbooks, go out into the bypaths and untrodden depths of the wilderness and travel and explore and tell the world the glories of our journey.
John Hope FranklinRead
The child who desires education will be bettered by it; the child who dislikes it disgraced.
John RuskinRead
I vowed to myself that when I grew up and became a theoretical physicist, in addition to doing research, I would write books that I would have liked to have read as a child. So whenever I write, I imagine myself, as a youth, reading my books, being thrilled by the incredible advances being made in physics and science.
Michio KakuRead
The idea that the majority of students attend a university for an education independent of the degree and grades is a hypocrisy everyone is happier not to expose. Occasionally some students do arrive for an education but rote and mechanical nature of the institution soon converts them to a less idealic attitude
Robert M. PirsigRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.

Quote by J. Paul Getty | QuoteProject