Friday, June 10, 2005

Quotations from Alfred the Great

The saddest thing about any man, is that he be ignorant, and the most exciting thing is that he knows.

It seems better to me that we should translate certain books which are most necessary for all men to know into the language that we can all understand, and also arrange it....so that all the youth of free men now among the English people.....are able to read English writing as well.

Alfred the Great (9th century)
quoted in The Year 1000: What Life Was Like at the Turn of the First Millennium

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