‘Key figures in the formation of thought and belief deliberately refrained from writing. The Buddha, Confucius, Socrates and Jesus, although they lived in literate cultures, chose not to write, but gathered their students around them and talked.
‘Accounts of their teachings were put together and written down only after their deaths. Their reasons must have varied, but Socrates opposed writing on mental health grounds – he believed it would shrink the memory and diminish one’s ability to think.’ John Carey, reviewing The Written Word, How Literature Shaped History, Martin Puchner (Granta)