Books have led some to learning and others to madness.
Interpretation
Books can inspire knowledge or lead to obsession.
This quote from Petrarch illustrates the dual nature of books and reading. On one hand, they can be a source of immense learning and enlightenment, opening the minds of readers to new ideas and knowledge; on the other hand, they can also consume individuals, leading them to obsessive thoughts or madness if they become too engrossed or lose touch with reality through their readings.
In practice
In a speech about the importance of literature, one might quote Petrarch to illustrate the profound impact of reading.
Gold, silver, jewels, purple garments, houses built of marble, groomed estates, pious paintings, caparisoned steeds, and other things of this kind offer a mutable and superficial pleasure; books give delight to the very marrow of one's bones. They speak to us, consult with us, and join with us in a living and intense intimacy.
Five enemies of peace inhabit with us - avarice, ambition, envy, anger, and pride; if these were to be banished, we should infallibly enjoy perpetual peace.
Rarely do great beauty and great virtue dwell together.
To begin with myself, then, the utterances of men concerning me will differ widely, since in passing judgment almost every one is influenced not so much by truth as by preference, and good and evil report alike know no bounds.
True, we love life, not because we are used to living, but because we are used to loving. There is always some madness in love, but there is also always some reason in madness.
I looked back at the summit of the mountain, which seemed but a cubit high in comparison with the height of human contemplation, were in not too often merged in the corruptions of the earth.
Public education is the key civil rights issue of the 21st century. Our nation's knowledge-based economy demands that we provide young people from all backgrounds and circumstances with the education and skills necessary to become knowledge workers. If we don't, we run the risk of creating an even larger gap between the middle class and the poor. This gap threatens our democracy, our society and the economic future of America.
You don't teach morals and ethics and empathy and kindness in the schools. You teach that at home, and children learn by example.
In the pursuit of knowledge, follow it wherever it is to be found; like fern, it is the produce of all climates, and like coin, its circulation is not restricted to any particular class.
To become comfortable with uncertainty is one of the primary goals in the training of a physician.
So few grow, because so few study.
Good history is good story-telling. And good story-telling demands empathy; it requires understanding different actors, differing motivations, competing goals.
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