and yet only in these multi-semantic words of spilled ink on sheets meant to symbolize the processes of a febrile intellect but in a crude language that can be interpreted in various ways and is little reflection of the feeling that actually drives a man , is there any chance at all , as feeble as the best attempt is , and with tenuous words at that , to have some impact upon the ages , some permanent worthdescartes extolling books as interviews of the noblest men of past ages and converse with those of other ages.64 but this purported gift , this pathetic transmission of knowledge and self , is in fact a desperate attempt to get future ages to acknowledge that one once was so as to permanently be , and only this .