The reason why books endure is because there are enough people who like them. It's the only reason why books last.
Interpretation
Books persist because there is a constant appreciation for them among readers.
In this quote, Salman Rushdie highlights the enduring nature of books, attributing their longevity to the love and interest that people have for them. This appreciation not only sustains the existence of literature but also fosters an ongoing relationship between readers and the written word, suggesting that the collective affection for books is what allows them to thrive through time.
In practice
This quote could be used in a speech about the importance of literature in society.
I've been fascinated by Machiavelli since I was very young. I've always felt that he had a bad rap from history, and that he was actually a person quite unlike what we now think of as Machiavellian. He was a republican. He disliked totalitarian government.
Killing people because you don't like their ideas - it's a bad thing.
faith without doubt is addiction
I am clearly vulnerable to these more passionate and volatile unstable relationships. I am trying to not be so vulnerable.
In India, as elsewhere in our darkening world, religion is the poison in the blood. Where religion intervenes, mere innocence is no excuse. Yet we go on skating around this issue, speaking of religion in the fashionable language of 'respect.' What is there to respect in any of this, or in any of the crimes now being committed almost daily around the world in religion's dreaded name?
Reality is a question of perspective; the further you get from the past, the more concrete and plausible it seems - but as you approach the present, it inevitably seems more and more incredible.
Children have a master to teach them, grown-ups have the poets.
Childhood is the sleep of reason.
Books are those faithful mirrors that reflect to our mind the minds of sages and heroes.
Students deserve great teachers. And teachers deserve the support they need to become great.
There is no way, absolutely no way, that I would want people to stop reading the 'Odyssey.' But I want them to read it with their eyes open. To notice it and then to think what it says about us.
Reading should not be presented to children as a chore, a duty. It should be offered as a gift.
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