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Wilson on Books
written by: SAH
From the January/February Atlantic -- Pages 58-60 -- "How Books Become Immortal" by Woodrow Wilson (1891).
I've decided to highlight this piece because some of the ideas expressed were appealing to me. This following is a collection of excerpted quotes I enjoyed; a few snapshots of a larger and more satisfying work, pleasurable as much for is brevity as its truth.
"Who can help but wondering, concerning the modern multitude of books, where all these companions of his reading hours will be buried when they die ..."
"... excellence will not save them."
"The world is attracted by books as each man is attracted by his several friends. you recommend that capital fellow So-and-So to the acquaintance of others because of his discriminating an diverting powers of observation: the very tones and persons--it would seem the very selves--of every type of man live again in his mimicries and descriptions."
"The ability to see for one's self is attainable, not by mixing with crowds and ascertaining how they look at things, but by a certain aloofness and self-containment."
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