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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 — for example, Old English or Old Norse poetry — I say to myself, “What a pity I can’t buy that book, for I already have a copy at home.
Jorge Luis Borges
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Interpretation

What this quote means

This quote reflects the endless pursuit of knowledge and the joy of learning, despite the limitations of time and resources.

Jorge Luis Borges expresses the innate desire for knowledge that drives individuals to collect books, even when overwhelmed by their existing collection. He acknowledges the fleeting nature of time, which makes him feel that he might never fully explore all that he has, yet this does not deter him from seeking out new sources of learning and inspiration. The quote illustrates the paradox of being a lifelong learner, where the thirst for knowledge can lead to both fulfillment and frustration.

Themes

BooksKnowledgeLearningCuriosityHobbies

In practice

Example use cases

In a speech about the importance of literacy, I would quote Borges to emphasize the endless journey of learning.

More from Jorge Luis Borges

You can't measure time by days, the way you measure money by dollars and cents, because dollars are all the same while every day is different and maybe every hour as well.
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To say good-bye is to deny separation; it is to say Today we play at going our own ways, but we'll see each other tomorrow. Men invented farewells because they somehow knew themselves to be immortal, even while seeing themselves as contingent and ephemeral.
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The execution was set for the 29th of March, at nine in the morning. This delay was due to a desire on the part of the authorities to act slowly and impersonally, in the manner of planets or vegetables.
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This felicitous supposition declared that there is only one Individual, and that this indivisible Individual is every one of the separate beings in the universe, and that these beings are the instruments and masks of divinity itself.
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A man sets out to draw the world. As the years go by, he peoples a space with images of provinces, kingdoms, mountains, bays, ships, islands, fishes, rooms, instruments, stars, horses, and individuals. A short time before he dies, he discovers that the patient labyrinth of lines traces the lineaments of his own face.
Jorge Luis BorgesRead
Let neither tear nor reproach besmirch this declaration of the mastery of God who, with magnificent irony, granted me both the gift of books and the night.
Jorge Luis BorgesRead

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