The Instruction of Ptah-Hotep and the Instruction of Ke'Gemni The Oldest Books in the World Quotes

“Silence is more profitable unto thee than abundance of speech.”
― Ptahhotep, The Instruction of Ptah-Hotep and the Instruction of Ke'Gemni The Oldest Books in the World

“These 'Instructions' were held in high esteem as text-books and writing exercises in schools—a circumstance to which we owe the preservation of many of them.”
― Ptahhotep, The Instruction of Ptah-Hotep and the Instruction of Ke'Gemni The Oldest Books in the World

“In these days, when all things and memories of the past are at length become not only subservient to, but submerged by, the matters and needs of the immediate present, those paths of knowledge that lead into regions seemingly remote from such needs are somewhat discredited; and the aims of those that follow them whither they lead are regarded as quite out of touch with the real interests of life.”
― Ptahhotep, The Instruction of Ptah-Hotep and the Instruction of Ke'Gemni The Oldest Books in the World