For books are not absolutely dead things, but do contain a potency of life in them to be as active as that soul was whose progeny they are; nay, they do preserve as in a vial the purest efficacy and extraction of that living intellect that bred them.

John Milton
About This Quote

If you were to go back to the time of Aristotle, you would find him writing on the topic of “The Soul”. While Aristotle had no idea how the brain worked, he knew that our bodies are made up of life and how the soul must be alive within it. He said that books are not dead things, but contain a potency of life. He believed that books are vital because they contain the thoughts and ideas of men. When we read a book, we inject ourselves with those thoughts and ideas, which then become an active part of our lives.

Source: Areopagitica

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