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About this quote

What does it mean?
Certain texts contain hidden meanings known only to initiates, hinted at by obscure traditions.
In plain terms
Some books have secret messages that only special people can read.
What can you take from it?
Restricted texts often imply deeper knowledge accessible only to specific initiates.

Where it applies

  • reading occult books
  • studying myths
  • writing lore

Putting it to work

  • researching history
  • storytelling
  • decoding

Questions to consider

  • Why do we hide knowledge?
  • What makes a text sacred?

Another view

It romanticizes secrecy without addressing why knowledge is hidden.

More from H. P. Lovecraft

  1. That cult would never die till the stars came right again, and the secret priests would take great Cthulhu from His tomb to revive His subjects and resume His …

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  2. The dream-narratives and cuttings collected by the professor were, of course, strong corroboration; but the rationalism of my mind and the extravagance of the …

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  3. There had been aeons when other Things ruled on the earth, and They had had great cities. Remains of Them, he said the deathless Chinamen had told him, were st…

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