What is a diary as a rule? A document useful to the person who keeps it. Dull to the contemporary who reads it and invaluable to the student, centuries afterwards, who treasures it.

Summary

This quote highlights the subjective value of a diary. It states that a diary primarily serves the purpose of being a useful document for the person who writes it, providing a space to record personal thoughts and experiences. However, it suggests that diaries may appear dull or uninteresting to those who read them at the time they were written. Instead, it claims that the true value of a diary emerges centuries later when it is studied by students, who appreciate and treasure the insights it offers into the past.

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