The product of paper and printed ink, that we commonly call the book, is one of the great visible mediators between spirit and time, and, reflecting zeitgeist, lasts as long as ore and stone.
Interpretation
Books are powerful tools that connect the spirit of the times with enduring knowledge.
In this quote, Johann Georg Hamann emphasizes the profound role that books play in bridging the gap between human consciousness and the progression of time. He suggests that books not only embody the spirit of their era but also possess a lasting significance that transcends the physical materials they are made from, showcasing their importance in our intellectual and cultural journeys.
In practice
In a speech about the importance of literacy, one could reference this quote to highlight how books shape our understanding of the world.
Being, belief and reason are pure relations, which cannot be dealt with absolutely, and are not things but pure scholastic concepts, signs for understanding, not for worshipping, aids to awaken our attention, not to fetter it.
The weakness of ourselves and of our reason makes us see flaws in beauties by making us consider everything piece by piece.
Nature is a book, a letter, a fairy tale (in the philosophical sense) or whatever you want to call it.
Every phenomenon of nature was a word, - the sign, symbol and pledge of a new, mysterious, inexpressible but all the more intimate union, participation and community of divine energies and ideas.
Everything is vain and tortures the spirit instead of calming and satisfying it.
Not only the entire ability to think rests on language... but language is also the crux of the misunderstanding of reason with itself.
No matter how long you play the guitar, there's always something else to learn.
If you don't feel safe as a child, you can't learn.
We are all shaped by the tools we use, in particular: the formalisms we use shape our thinking habits, for better or for worse, and that means that we have to be very careful in the choice of what we learn and teach, for unlearning is not really possible.
I loved to read, and I think any child who loves to read will read anything, including the back of the cereal box, which I did every morning.
I think the cardinal rule of learning to write is learning to read first. I learned to write by learning to read.
I see it as my job to try to make history to be a popular thing. The longer I keep going the less weird it will be to be a female historian.
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