The function of a book or a poem or a story is to delight, to enchant, to beguile.
Philip PullmanRead
If a nation allows its literary culture to die, it's a sign that it doesn't fundamentally care.
Interpretation
What this quote means
A nation's disregard for its literary culture reflects a lack of care for its intellectual and cultural development.
Philip Pullman's quote emphasizes the importance of literature in the cultural and intellectual fabric of a nation. It suggests that when a society neglects its literary culture, it signals a deeper issue of apathy towards education, critical thinking, and the preservation of shared narratives that are vital for community and identity.
Themes
Literary CultureEducationSocietyApathyIntellectual Growth
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a speech advocating for increased funding for literature programs in schools.
More from Philip Pullman
All quotes βEducation and health were always matters of charity. You educated children and you helped the sick because they were good things to do, not because you were going to make money out of them. If you let the money-making principle, the profit-seeking motive, anywhere near education and health, things go bad.
Philip PullmanRead
To get the best out of life here ...Good grief. There's plenty of it about, so indulge. Give yourself some thing to remember. Fall in love. Fall out of love. Gamble. Get drunk. See how long you can stay awake. Go for long walks at night. Discover what you're afraid of doing, and then do it.
Philip PullmanRead
People should decide on the books' meanings for themselves. They'll find a story that attacks such things as cruelty, oppression, intolerance, unkindness, narrow-mindedness, and celebrates love, kindness, open-mindedness, tolerance, curiosity, human intelligence.
Philip PullmanRead
I told him I was going to betray you, and betray Lyra, and he believed me because I was corrupt and full of wickedness; he looked so deep I felt sure he'd see the truth. But I lied too well. I was lying with every nerve and fiber and everything I'd ever done...I wanted him to find no good in me, and he didn't. There is none.
Philip PullmanRead
Lyra learns to her great cost that fantasy isnβt enough. She has been lying all her life, telling stories to people, making up fantasies, and suddenly she comes to a point where thatβs not enough. All she can do is tell the truth. She tells the truth about her childhood, about the experiences she had in Oxford, and that is what saves her. True experience, not fantasy - reality, not lies - is what saves us in the end.
Philip PullmanRead
Similar quotes
The task of a university is the creation of the future, so far as rational thought and civilized modes of appreciation can affect the issue.
Alfred North WhiteheadRead
What you look for as a reader is somebody who is going to take you and say, 'C'mon. Come into the story. I'm going to show you what there is to see.' The guide who is going to tell you, 'Pay attention over there,' or, 'Do you remember that other thing? Now watch!'
Celeste NgRead
How can any one paint who cannot grade colors? How can any one write poetry who has not learnt to hear and see?
Maria MontessoriRead
If I were again beginning my studies, I would follow the advice of Plato and start with mathematics.
Galileo GalileiRead
Studying entrepreneurshi p without doing it... is like studying the appreciation of music without listening to it.
Seth GodinRead
A man's college and university degrees mean nothing to me until I see what he is able to do with them.
Henry FordRead