Richard de BuryPhilobiblon
Was reading through some things on the Net and this particular piece caught my attention. The truth in it is so blunt yet perfectly stated. Not so much on books but on how people are in general when they think they are better than others.
Postremo pensandum
Quanta doctrinae commoditas sit in libris
Quam facilis, quam arcana!
Quam tuto libris humanae ignorantia paupertatem
sine verecundia denudamus!
Hi sunt magistri qui nos instruunt
sine virgis et ferula,
sine verbis et cholera, sine pannis et pecunia.
si accedis, non dormiunt;
Si inquirens interrogas, non abscondunt;
Non remurmurant si oberres;
Cachinnos nesciunt, si ignores.
(Richard de BuryPhilobiblon, I, 9)
And finally, one must consider how great the ease of learning
there is in books, how yielding, how trusting !
How safely we reveal, without shyness, in the face of our books
the poverty of our human ignorance !
They are teachers who instruct us without switches or rods,
without slaps or anger, without notice of rags or riches.
If you approach them , they are not asleep;
If you ask a question, they do not hide;
They do not mutter at you if you make a mistake;
When you are ignorant, they do not know how to laugh at you.