La saggezza popolare

The book is an object that has been around for many years now and, due to its importance and value, is known to be part of many proverbs. Some of the most popular ones are:

• "Don't judge a book by its cover" (Non si giudica un libro dalla copertina)

It's an english proverb that states that a book should not be judge superficially, by just looking at its outsides. This applies not only for books themselves, but most importantly to people in general. Bascially, if you are judging a book, the cover is the least important aspect to judge it by. In fact, the story inside is the only thing that counts, your favourite book doesn't necessarily have yor favourite cover, such as a book with an amazing cover might have a not so brilliant story within. Also with people, the outside look or appearance should have nothing to do with the way you judge someone. Nowadays people have been trying to entirely stop with the racial discrimination, making sure that people are not judge just because on the outside they look different and sometimes are associated with the bad behaviors of people of similar ehtnicity. This proverb is a metaphorical phrase which means to say that you should not prejudge the worth or value of someone or something merely by its outward appearance.

• "There's no worse thief than a bad book" (Non c'è un ladro peggiore di un brutto libro)

This is a proverb that makes many sense nowadays. There was a time when reading was a much more important and frequent activity but, unfortunately, that has began to change in the past years. Each new generation tends to read less than the one before and, with all the new technologies that are each day being further developed, reading a book will probably become a rare activity in this society. This quote refers to books that aren't very useful, or meaninful or worth reading at all, but that unfortunately are in the market for people to buy. These days, buying and reading a bad and meanless book is the biggest waste of time because people read such few books nowadays that reading one that isn't good may mean that they won't want to read more books or that they only read again after a long time, and they've wasted precious patience and time reading something with no value once however.

• "Beware the man of one book" (Dio mi guardi da chi studia un libro solo)

This proverb comes from ancient times when Saint Thomas Aquinas employed the phrase "Homo unius libri", which means to fear the man that reads a single book. This proverb doesn't necessarilly refers only to books, whether it be a literal book, a newspaper, media, Tv, a religion or group, it is meant to warn you that someone who gets all their views from one "source" can be trusted. It's saying that people should form their opinion from a combination of viewpoints, this meaning that people have to be open minded and the "man of one book" surely isn't.