Get The BookBrowse Anthology, our 880 page collection of our past decade of Best of Year reviews, now available in hardcover!

Who said: "Beware the man of one book"

BookBrowse's Favorite Quotes

Beware the man of one book (in Latin, homo unius libri) is generally attributed to Thomas Aquinas

Thomas of Aquino is believed to have been born in 1225 in Aquino (which is in the South of Italy and at the time was part of the Kingdom of Sicily.) His family intended that he would become a Benedictine monk but at the age of nineteen, influenced by one of his teachers at the university in Naples, he decided to join the recently established Dominican order. His family were so displeased by his decision that they had him kidnapped and held him captive in the family castle for two years in hopes of convincing him to change his mind. Eventually realizing that they wouldn't succeed, his mother arranged for Thomas to escape at night on the basis that this would be less embarrassing to the family than admitting they'd allowed him to join.

In university he had been heavily influenced by the writings of the Greek philosopher Aristotle (384 BC – 322 BC), and also by the 12th century philosophers, Averroes (a Muslim polymath) and Maimonides (a Jewish Rabbi). During his 49 years he became an extremely influencial philosopher and theologian and is considered the leading classical proponent of natural theology (theology based on reason and ordinary experience as opposed to revealed theology which is based on scripture and religious experience).

His best known works are the Summa Theologica (Compendium of Theology) which, despite being unfinished at his death, is considered one of the most influential works of Western literature; and the Summa contra Gentiles

More Quotes

This quote & biography originally ran in an issue of BookBrowse's membership magazine. Full Membership Features & Benefits.

BookBrowse Book Club

  • Book Jacket
    The River Knows Your Name
    by Kelly Mustian
    A haunting Southern novel about memory and love, from the author of The Girls in the Stilt House.

Members Recommend

  • Book Jacket

    The Seven O'Clock Club
    by Amelia Ireland

    Four strangers join an experimental treatment to heal broken hearts in Amelia Ireland's heartfelt debut novel.

  • Book Jacket

    One Death at a Time
    by Abbi Waxman

    A cranky ex-actress and her Gen Z sobriety sponsor team up to solve a murder that could send her back to prison in this dazzling mystery.

  • Book Jacket

    The Fairbanks Four
    by Brian Patrick O’Donoghue

    One murder, four guilty convictions, and a community determined to find justice.

  • Book Jacket

    Happy Land
    by Dolen Perkins-Valdez

    From the New York Times bestselling author, a novel about a family's secret ties to a vanished American Kingdom.

Who Said...

The longest journey of any person is the journey inward

Click Here to find out who said this, as well as discovering other famous literary quotes!

Wordplay

Solve this clue:

J of A T, M of N

and be entered to win..

Your guide toexceptional          books

BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.