The function of a book or a poem or a story is to delight, to enchant, to beguile.
Philip PullmanRead
If a nation allows its literary culture to die, it's a sign that it doesn't fundamentally care.
Interpretation
What this quote means
A nation's disregard for its literary culture reflects a lack of care for its intellectual and cultural development.
Philip Pullman's quote emphasizes the importance of literature in the cultural and intellectual fabric of a nation. It suggests that when a society neglects its literary culture, it signals a deeper issue of apathy towards education, critical thinking, and the preservation of shared narratives that are vital for community and identity.
Themes
Literary CultureEducationSocietyApathyIntellectual Growth
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a speech advocating for increased funding for literature programs in schools.
More from Philip Pullman
All quotes βEducation 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 isnβt enough. She has been lying all her life, telling stories to people, making up fantasies, and suddenly she comes to a point where thatβs 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
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We must make up our minds to be ignorant of much, if we would know anything.
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When asked, "How do you write?" I invariably answer, "One word at a time," and the answer is invariably dismissed. But that is all it is. It sounds too simple to be true, but consider the Great Wall of China, if you will: one stone at a time, man. That's all. One stone at a time. But I've read you can see that motherfucker from space without a telescope.
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You can't educate a child who isn't healthy, and you can't keep a child healthy who isn't educated.
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The more you read, the more you will write. The better the stuff you read, the better the stuff you will write.
Annie DillardRead