Universities are the cathedrals of the modern age. They shouldn't have to justify their existence by utilitarian criteria.
David LodgeRead
to read is to surrender oneself to an endless displacement of curiosity and desire from one sentence to another, from one action to another, from one level of a text to another. The text unveils itself before us, but never allows itself to be possessed; and instead of trying to possess it we should take pleasure in its teasing
Interpretation
What this quote means
Reading immerses us in curiosity and discovery, offering endless exploration without complete ownership of the text.
This quote by David Lodge emphasizes the transformative power of reading. It illustrates how engaging with a text leads us through a journey of curiosity and desire, as we explore different layers and meanings within it. The text is portrayed not as something to be possessed or dominated, but rather as an experience to be enjoyed, where the pleasure lies in the ongoing exploration and the unfolding of ideas and narratives. This perspective encourages readers to embrace the dynamic relationship between themselves and the literature, where the act of reading itself becomes a fulfilling adventure.
Themes
ReadingCuriosityDesireExplorationLiterature
In practice
Example use cases
During a book club discussion to emphasize the joy of discovery in reading.
More from David Lodge
All quotes →Similar quotes
The entering class I joined in 1956 included just nine women, up from five in the then second-year class, and only one African American. All professors, in those now-ancient days, were of the same race and sex.
Ruth Bader GinsburgRead
BE A STUDENT BY STAYING OPEN AND WILLING TO LEARN FROM EVERYONE AND ANYONE.
Wayne DyerRead
A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts.
William Strunk, Jr.Read
And read… read all the time… read as a matter of principle, as a matter of self-respect. Read as a nourishing staple of life.
David McculloughRead
Children are not the people of tomorrow, but people today. They are entitled to be taken seriously. They have a right to be treated by adults with tenderness and respect, as equals. They should be allowed to grow into whoever they were meant to be - The unknown person inside each of them is the hope for the future.
Janusz KorczakRead
There is only one way to read, which is to browse in libraries and bookshops, picking up books that attract you, reading only those, dropping them when they bore you, skipping the parts that drag-and never, never reading anything because you feel you ought, or because it is part of a trend or a movement. Remember that the book which bores you when you are twenty or thirty will open doors for you when you are forty or fifty-and vise versa. Don’t read a book out of its right time for you.
Doris LessingRead