"Be a writer , take it to heart, so that 'your' name will fare likewise. A book is more effective than a carved tombstone or a permanent sepulcher. They serve as chapels as mausolea in the mind of him who proclaims their names. A name on a people 's lips will surely be effective in the afterlife.
"Man perishes; his corpse turns to dust; all his relatives pass away . But his writings make him remembered in the mouth of the reader. A book is more effective than a well-built house or a tomb-chapel in the West , better than an established villa or a stela in the temple!
Is there one here like Hordedef? Is there another Imhotep? None of your kin is like Neferti or Khety , their leader. May I remind you about Ptahemdjehuty and Khakheperraseneb! Is there another like Ptahhotep, or the equal of Kairsu?
"Those wise men who foretold what was to come
: what they said came into being; it is found as a maxim, written in their books. Others' offspring will be their heirs, as if they were their own children. They hid their magic from the world, but it is read in their teachings. They are gone, their names forgotten; but their writings cause them to be remembered."
P.286-287, "Be A Writer," WRITINGS FROM ANCIENT EGYPT translated and edited by Toby Wilkinson (2017)
"Be a writer , take it to heart, so that 'your' name will fare likewise. A book is more effective than a carved tombstone or a permanent sepulcher. They serve as chapels as mausolea in the mind of him who proclaims their names. A name on a people 's lips will surely be effective in the afterlife.
"Man perishes; his corpse turns to dust; all his relatives pass away . But his writings make him remembered in the mouth of the reader. A book is more effective than a well-built house or a tomb-chapel in the West , better than an established villa or a stela in the temple!
Is there one here like Hordedef? Is there another Imhotep? None of your kin is like Neferti or Khety , their leader. May I remind you about Ptahemdjehuty and Khakheperraseneb! Is there another like Ptahhotep, or the equal of Kairsu?
"Those wise men who foretold what was to come
: what they said came into being; it is found as a maxim, written in their books. Others' offspring will be their heirs, as if they were their own children. They hid their magic from the world, but it is read in their teachings. They are gone, their names forgotten; but their writings cause them to be remembered."
P.286-287, "Be A Writer," WRITINGS FROM ANCIENT EGYPT translated and edited by Toby Wilkinson (2017)
