I wrote a book one time. I go back and read it when I feel like it. I can’t say its a masterpiece, but it has a value to me. And some of it is not only good, but bordering on perfect. When you say exactly what you want and it expresses that unspoken thing in so few words and you almost feel like it must’ve felt to live it.
And that is the great achievement of literature, one that still stands far above the achievements of science: Literature can help you understand how it feels to be someone else, to live in their shoes. Science tells us everything about the conditions of existence, but brings us not one step closer to knowing what it would be like to be someone else, to live that alternate life.
Science will put an astronaut on the moon, but only a book can send a janitor.
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