...the reader who plucks a book from her shelf only once is as deprived as the listener who, after attending a single performance of a Beethoven symphony, never hears it again.

Anne Fadiman
About This Quote

Books and music might sound the same – but they’re not. When we read a book, we can go back and read it again and again. We can share the book with our friends and they can read it too. But music only exists once; it’s not like we can enjoy it repeatedly.

Even if we heard an entire symphony, we wouldn’t be able to understand it again. This quote captures the importance of books and music as powerful tools for learning and enjoyment.

Source: Rereadings: Seventeen Writers Revisit Books They Love

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