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Discourse on the Sciences and Arts and Polemics

Book by Jean-Jacques Rousseau · 3 quotes · Absurdity, Alexandria, Caliph

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Discourse on the Sciences and Arts and Polemics Quotes

“They say that Caliph Omar, when consulted about what had to be done with the library of Alexandria, answered as follows: 'If the books of this library contain matters opposed to the Koran, they are bad and must be burned. If they contain only the doctrine of the Koran, burn them anyway, for they are superfluous.' Our learned men have cited this reasoning as the height of absurdity. However, suppose Gregory the Great was there instead of Omar and the Gospel instead of the Koran. The library would still have been burned, and that might well have been the finest moment in the life of this illustrious pontiff.”

IslamLibraryIntoleranceAbsurdityGospelQuranScience Vs ReligionAlexandriaKoranLibrary Of AlexandriaCaliphCaliph OmarGregory The GreatPontiff
Book:Discourse on the Sciences and Arts and Polemics
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“It is a great and beautiful spectacle to see a man somehow emerging from oblivion by his own efforts, dispelling with the light of his reason the shadows in which nature had enveloped him, rising above himself, soaring in his mind right up to the celestial regions, moving, like the sun, with giant strides through the vast extent of the universe, and, what is even greater and more difficult, returning to himself in order to study man there and learn of his nature, his obligations, and his end.”

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Book:Discourse on the Sciences and Arts and Polemics
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