Quote #0
A house without books is like a body without a soul.
Anonymous
About This Quote
The modern proverb is commonly credited to Cicero, but the closest traceable origin is Cicero’s letter to Atticus where he remarks that, after his librarian arranged his books, his house seemed to have gained a “soul.” In the 19th century this idea was paraphrased and gradually hardened into the familiar aphorism about a house/room without books being like a body without a soul.
Interpretation
Books are portrayed as what gives a home (or a room) its inner life—intellectual vitality, character, and meaning—rather than being mere decoration or possessions.
Extended Quotation
Since Tyrannio has arranged my books, the house seems to have acquired a soul.
Variations
A house without books is like a body without a soul.
Without books, a house is but a body without a soul.
A room without books is like a body without a soul.
I think it was Cicero who said that a house without a library is like a body without a soul.
Misattributions
- Marcus Tullius Cicero
- G. K. Chesterton
Source
https://books.google.com/books?id=7v0IAAAAQAAJ (Cicero, Letters to Atticus, trans. E. O. Winstedt, 1912)
