No one stepping for the first time into a room made of books can know instinctively how to behave, what is expected, what is promised, what is allowed. One may be overcome by horror--at the cluster or the vastness, the stillness, the mocking reminder of everything one doesn't know, the surveillance--and some of that overwhelming feeling may cling on, even after the rituals and conventions are learned, the geography mapped, and the natives found friendly. Alberto Manguel
About This Quote

Not everyone can be an expert in all things new. Some people need time to learn new things, while others are so interested in them that they get right down to learning them no matter how long it takes. Regardless of the reason, you don't have to be an expert in every new thing you encounter. Start somewhere, and if you become good at something, learn more.

If you become great, learn more. But do not try to learn everything without having some sort of foundation to build on.

Source: The Library At Night

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More Quotes By Alberto Manguel
  1. Maybe this is why we read, and why in moments of darkness we return to books: to find words for what we already know.
  2. As readers, we are seldom interested in the fine sentiments of a lesson learnt; we seldom care about the good manners of morals. Repentance puts an end to conversation; forgiveness becomes the stuff of moralistic tracts. Revenge - bloodthirsty, justice-hungry revenge - is the very...
  3. If justice takes place, there may be hope, even in the face of a seemingly capricious divinity.
  4. I like to imagine that, on the day after my last, my library and I will crumble together, so that even when I am no more I'll still be with my books.
  5. Unicorns, dragons, witches may be creatures conjured up in dreams, but on the page their needs, joys, anguishes, and redemptions should be just as true as those of Madame Bovary or Martin Chuzzlewit.
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