The heaventree of stars hung with humid nightblue fruit.
James JoyceRead
The studious silence of the library ... Thought is the thought of thought. Tranquil brightness.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Joyce emphasizes the profound and tranquil nature of contemplation found in libraries.
In this quote, James Joyce highlights the serene environment of a library as a space conducive to deep thought and reflection. He suggests that the act of thinking about thinking—metacognition—occurs in this tranquil setting, where the brightness symbolizes clarity and enlightenment gained through introspection and study.
Themes
LibrariesThoughtTranquilityContemplationEducation
In practice
Example use cases
During a graduation speech, one might quote this to highlight the importance of self-reflection throughout the educational journey.
More from James Joyce
All quotes →I think a child should be allowed to take his father's or mother's name at will on coming of age. Paternity is a legal fiction.
James JoyceRead
If he had smiled why would he have smiled? To reflect that each one who enters imagines himself to be the first to enter whereas he is always the last term of a preceding series even if the first term of a succeeding one, each imagining himself to be first, last, only and alone whereas he is neither first nor last nor only nor alone in a series originating in and repeated to infinity.
James JoyceRead
Gentle lady, do not sing Sad songs about the end of love; Lay aside sadness and sing How love that passes is enough. Sing about the long deep sleep Of lovers that are dead, and how In the grave all love shall sleep: Love is aweary now.
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I am tomorrow, or some future day, what I establish today. I am today what I established yesterday or some previous day.
James JoyceRead
The movements which work revolutions in the world are born out of the dreams and visions in a peasant's heart on the hillside.
James JoyceRead
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I never have time to read now. I did all my reading before I was twenty.
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The writers we absorb when we're young bind us to them, sometimes lightly, sometimes with iron. In time, the bonds fall away, but if you look very closely you can sometimes make out the pale white groove of a faded scar, or the telltale chalky red of old rust.
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As I teach, I project the condition of my soul onto my students, my subject, and our way of being together.
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If it is right that schools should be maintained by the whole community for the well-being of the whole, it is right also that libraries should be so maintained.
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