“Nothing useless is, or low;
Each thing in its place is best;
And what seems but idle show
Strengthens and supports the rest.”
The Builders, st. 2 (1849).
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Henry Wadsworth Longfellow202
American poet 1807–1882Related quotes
Carlos Castaneda book The Wheel of Time
Source: The Wheel of Time: Shamans of Ancient Mexico, Their Thoughts About Life, Death and the Universe], (1998), Quotations from The Teachings of Don Juan (Chapter 4)
Charles de Lint (1951) author
"Dream Harder, Dream True", p. 293
The Ivory and the Horn (1996)
Matthew Perry (actor) (1969) American actor
Gail Pennington (May 2, 2004) "Farewell, "Friends": Sitcom's Finale on Thursday Night May Draw Up to 85 Million Viewers", The St. Louis Post-Dispatch, p. F1.
“It is better, of course, to know useless things than to know nothing.”
Satius est supervacua scire quam nihil.
Seneca the Younger (-4–65 BC) Roman Stoic philosopher, statesman, and dramatist
Source: Epistulae Morales ad Lucilium (Moral Letters to Lucilius), Letter LXXXVIII: On liberal and vocational studies, Line 45.
“It is better of course to know useless things than to know nothing.”
Tom Stoppard (1937) British playwright
Misattributed <br class="br">Source: Seneca, Epistle 88, as seen in the following: "You may sweep all these theories in with the superfluous troops of 'liberal' studies; the one class of men give me a knowledge that will be of no use to me, the other class do away with any hope of attaining knowledge. It is better, of course, to know useless things than to know nothing. One set of philosophers offers no light by which I may direct my gaze toward the truth; the other digs out my very eyes and leaves me blind." Seneca: Epistle 88 http://www.stoics.com/seneca_epistles_book_2.html#%E2%80%98LXXXVIII1
Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington (1769–1852) British soldier and statesman
Wellington's papers (17 August 1815), as quoted in The History of England from the Accession of James II (1848) by Thomas Babington Macaulay