Homo unius libri ('(a) man of one book') is aLatin phrase attributed toThomas Aquinas by bishopJeremy Taylor (1613–1667), who claimed that Aquinas is reputed to have employed the phrase "hominem unius libri timeo" ('I fear the man of a single book').[1]
The poetRobert Southey recalled the tradition in which the quotation became embedded:
When St Thomas Aquinas was asked in what manner a man might best become learned, he answered, "By reading one book"; "meaning," saysBishop Taylor, "that an understanding entertained with several objects is intent upon neither, and profits not."[2] Thehomo unius libri is indeed proverbially formidable to all conversational figurantes. Like your sharp-shooter, he knows his piece perfectly, and is sure of his shot.[3]
The phrase was in origin a dismissal ofeclecticism, i.e. the "fear" is of the formidable intellectual opponent who has dedicated himself to and become a master in a single chosen discipline. In this first sense, the phrase was invoked byMethodist founderJohn Wesley to refer to himself, with "one book" (unius libri) taken to mean theBible.[4] However, the phrase today most often refers to the interpretation of expressing "fear" of an ignorant person who has "only read a single book".[5]
Media related toTimeo hominem unius libri at Wikimedia Commons
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