Owning thousands of unread books (Gabriel Zaid)

"Those who aspire to the status of cultured individuals visit bookshops with trepidation, overwhelmed by the immensity of all they have not read. They buy something that they've been told is good, make an unsuccessful attempt to read it, and when they have accumulated half a dozen unread books, feel so bad that they are afraid to buy more. In contrast, the truly cultured are capable of owning thousands of unread books without losing their composure or desire for more."

— from Gabriel Zaid, So Many Books (Los demasiados libros, 2003), 2003, translated by Natasha Wimmer, 2004.