We are absurdly accustomed to the miracle of a few written signs being able to contain immortal imagery, involutions of thought, new worlds with live people, speaking, weeping, laughing. We take it for granted so simply that in a sense, by the very act of brutish routine acceptance, we undo the work of the ages, the history of the gradual elaboration of poetical description and construction, from the treeman to Browning, from the caveman to Keats. What if we awake one day, all of us, and find ourselves utterly unable to read? I wish you to gasp not only at what you read but at the miracle of its being readable. Vladimir Nabokov
About This Quote

The idea of reading before the invention of the written word is a notion that is often overlooked. In many ways, reading is a miraculous process that allows us to have access to thoughts from the past. It is not only about being able to read but also being able to understand what was read. The ability to understand what was read may seem trivial but it is a vast difference from someone who doesn’t care about what they read.

We have all been in a position where we have had to read something and couldn’t understand it. Thus, the idea of being able to read without understanding is a miracle in itself.

Source: Pale Fire

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