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About this quote

What does it mean?
Owning a library brings awareness of how much remains unread and unknown to the owner.
In plain terms
Having books makes you realize how little you actually know.
What can you take from it?
Possession does not equal mastery or understanding.

Where it applies

  • reading habit
  • personal reflection
  • education

Putting it to work

  • value reading over owning
  • acknowledge learning gaps

Questions to consider

  • What do you not know?
  • Does owning books help?

Another view

The quote assumes ownership implies a duty to know everything.

More from Jorge Luis Borges

  1. The heresies we should fear are those which can be confused with orthodoxy.

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  2. Do you want to see what human eyes have never seen? Look at the moon. Do you want to hear what ears have never heard? Listen to the bird's cry. Do you want to …

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  3. Every novel is an ideal plane inserted into the realm of reality.

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