As I go to sleep I remember what my father said-that one can never be sure if one will awake. The way my health is now, this is becoming more and more real.
Jerzy KosinskiRead
Here was one place where I could find out who I was and what I was going to become. And that was the public library.
Interpretation
The public library serves as a vital space for self-discovery and personal growth.
In this quote, Jerzy Kosinski highlights the importance of public libraries as sanctuaries for individuals seeking to understand their own identities and futures. Libraries provide more than just books; they offer resources, knowledge, and an environment conducive to introspection and learning, which can significantly shape one's life path.
In practice
During a speech at a community event, I might quote this to emphasize the importance of libraries in personal development.
As I go to sleep I remember what my father said-that one can never be sure if one will awake. The way my health is now, this is becoming more and more real.
Lovers are not snails; they don't have to protrude from their shells and meet each other halfway. Meet me within your own self.
You can't understand European history at all other than through religion, or English literature either if you can't recognise biblical allusions.
Sometimes, looking at the many books I have at home, I feel I shall die before I come to the end of them, yet I cannot resist the temptation of buying new books. Whenever I walk into a bookstore and find a book on one of my hobbies β for example, Old English or Old Norse poetry β I say to myself, βWhat a pity I canβt buy that book, for I already have a copy at home.
Let the children...be carefully instructed in the principles and obligations of the Christian religion. This is the most essential part of education.
Today we read books 'extensively,' often without sustained focus, and with rare exceptions we read each book only once. We value quantity of reading over quality of reading. We have no choice, if we want to keep up with the broader culture.
For me, I was always the only woman in my cohort, first as a mechanical engineering undergraduate student, then as a chemical engineering graduate student. There were very few women getting degrees in those fields at the time. My role models were men - great men role models.
If I am given a formula, and I am ignorant of its meaning, it cannot teach me anything, but if I already know it what does the formula teach me?
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.