Monday Quote: Books as Capital

Cropped version of Thomas Jefferson, painted by Charles Willson Peale. Philadelphia, 1791. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 

Books constitute capital. A library book lasts as long as a house, for hundreds of years. It is not, then, an article of mere consumption but fairly of capital, and often in the case of professional men, setting out in life, it is their only capital.
Thomas Jefferson

In honor of World Book Night on April 23rd, I ask you to consider this quote. Thomas Jefferson may have had his faults, but the promotion of literacy and the love of the printed word were not among them.

I love the image of books as capital. Are we not enriching our children by reading stories, teaching them to read and then exposing them to books? Why not, then, continue that enrichment throughout our lives?

As I pass out free books this evening, I will proudly spread the wealth.

 

Further Reading:

https://alenaslife.wordpress.com/2012/04/18/wbn-im-a-giver/

http://www.us.worldbooknight.org