{"id":946,"date":"2021-02-16T08:39:54","date_gmt":"2021-02-16T13:39:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.phildu.be\/?p=946"},"modified":"2021-02-16T08:39:57","modified_gmt":"2021-02-16T13:39:57","slug":"the-world-is-a-great-book","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.phildu.be\/?p=946","title":{"rendered":"The World is a Great Book"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"
The world is a great book of which they that never stir from home read only a page\u2026
— 1953 TWA ad<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Travel is the great equalizer. To visit others is to learn and to shed the mantles of bigotry and racism. It is very difficult to escape those shackles when one has spent their lifetime within a hundred miles of where they are born. When one sits down and breaks bread with a stranger, one becomes a brother. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1750, and\u00a0Louis-Charles Fougeret de Monbron writes\u00a0Le Cosmopolite ou le Citoyen du Monde\u00a0(The Cosmopolitan or the Citizen of the World), which opens with the following paragraph (as translated into English): <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The universe is a sort of book, whose first page one has read when one has seen only one\u2019s own country.\u00a0I have leafed through a great many that I have found equally bad. This inquiry has not been at all unfruitful. I hated my country. All the oddities of the different people among whom I have lived have reconciled me to it. Should I gain no other benefit from my travels than this, I will have regretted neither the pains nor the fatigues.” <\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

And finally, in 1824, Thomas Fielding gave us a more familiar rendering of the phrase in his Selected Proverbs of All Nations, crediting it to Augustine: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe world is a great book, of which they that never stir from home read only a page.\u201d 1<\/sup><\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

1. Thompson, Craig, “To Augustine the World Is a Book, but Is It a Travel Book?” April 13, 2016, clearinghousecustoms<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The world is a great book, of which they that never stir from home read only a page.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":947,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.phildu.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/FB_IMG_1613481662257.jpg?fit=990%2C632&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9APuD-fg","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":687,"url":"https:\/\/www.phildu.be\/?p=687","url_meta":{"origin":946,"position":0},"title":"Boycott Nestl\u00e9","date":"April 9, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"I read yesterday that Nestl\u00e9 was approved to withdraw 400 gallons of water a minute in Michigan at the low cost of $200 a year. Meanwhile, the residents of Flint have been struggling over water since April 2014. I find that unacceptable. I started to think about Nestl\u00e9 and an\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Environment"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.phildu.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/nestle.jpg?fit=750%2C750&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":475,"url":"https:\/\/www.phildu.be\/?p=475","url_meta":{"origin":946,"position":1},"title":"“Drink Your Milk” Your Mother Said","date":"February 5, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"The Globe and Mail published an article last week titled Soy, coconut, almond or rice: How do non-dairy \u2018milks\u2019 stack up nutritionally? 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When a terrorist puts a bomb in the building do we curse the bomb or\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Gun Control"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.phildu.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/AR-15.jpg?fit=480%2C319&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":436,"url":"https:\/\/www.phildu.be\/?p=436","url_meta":{"origin":946,"position":3},"title":"Drowning in Plastic Waste","date":"February 2, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Plastic waste is one of the largest problems confronting the environment today. We are drowning in it. In our landfill, along our roads, in our waterways and in the ocean. According to the Guardian\u00a0\"a\u00a0million plastic bottles are bought around the world every minute and the number will jump another 20%\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Environment"","img":{"alt_text":"Washed up plastic waste on a beach in Singapore.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.phildu.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/Litter_on_Singapores_East_Coast_Park-1.jpg?fit=1007%2C805&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":671,"url":"https:\/\/www.phildu.be\/?p=671","url_meta":{"origin":946,"position":4},"title":"Protecting Carden Alvar","date":"May 4, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Today we read the following message from Jean Iron, one of Ontario's premier birders, to the Midland-Penetanguishene Field Naturalists Club and became instantly concerned. Jean writes: \"I'm wondering if the Midland-Penetanguishene Field Naturalists Club knows about this proposed shooting center. If not, would you please pass on this information to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.phildu.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/shrike.jpg?fit=930%2C960&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":846,"url":"https:\/\/www.phildu.be\/?p=846","url_meta":{"origin":946,"position":5},"title":"Composting in Bear Country","date":"September 16, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Algonquin HighlandsAugust 2018 We share our Algonquin Highlands home with wildlife. It is their home and Bears are an important part of the environment. It is up to us to ensure that we do nothing that will cause them harm. Bears that associate us with food will invariably get in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Conservation"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.phildu.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/bear.jpg?fit=768%2C960&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.phildu.be\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/946"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.phildu.be\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.phildu.be\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.phildu.be\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.phildu.be\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=946"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.phildu.be\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/946\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":949,"href":"https:\/\/www.phildu.be\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/946\/revisions\/949"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.phildu.be\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/947"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.phildu.be\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=946"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.phildu.be\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=946"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.phildu.be\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=946"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}