On the reading of old books

In the words of Lewis, “Every age has its own outlook, It is specially good at seeing certain truths and specially liable to make certain mistakes. We all, therefore, need the books that will correct the characteristic mistakes of our own period. And that means the old books.”

Lewis has no desire to deify the past: “People were no cleverer then than they are now; they made as many mistakes as we.” However, they did not, generally speaking, make “the same mistakes” we make today: “They will not flatter us in the errors we are already committing; and their own errors, being now open and palpable, will not endanger us. Two heads are better than one, not because either is infallible, but because they are unlikely to go wrong in the same direction.”[C. S. Lewis, On the Reading of Old Books, 207, emphasis original]—Christopher Hall, Reading Scripture with the Church Fathers, 183

<idle musing>
I had heard portions of that quotation from Lewis for decades, but never had seen the whole thing, nor did I know where it came from. It's even more powerful with a context. Looks like I'll have to chase down the original and read it.
</idle musing>