“A book is a machine to think with, but it need not, therefore, usurp the functions either of the bellows or the locomotive.”

[Richards, I. A., Principles of Literary Criticism, 1924]
Principles of Literary Criticism

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "A book is a machine to think with, but it need not, therefore, usurp the functions either of the bellows or the locomot…" by I. A. Richards?
I. A. Richards photo
I. A. Richards 3
English literary critic and rhetorician 1893–1979

Related quotes

Naum Gabo photo

“Either build functional houses and bridges or create pure art or both. Don't confuse one with the other. Such art is not pure constructive art, but merely an imitation of the machine.”

Naum Gabo (1890–1977) Russian sculptor

quote, 1919; as cited in: Ruth Latta (1948) Naum Gabo. Museum of Modern Art (New York, N.Y.), p. 18
Here Gabo publicly criticized Tatlin's design for the 'Monument to the Third International' (1919)
1918 - 1935

Daniel Dennett photo
Yukihiro Matsumoto photo
Karl Marx photo

“Revolutions are the locomotives of history.”

Karl Marx (1818–1883) German philosopher, economist, sociologist, journalist and revolutionary socialist

Chapter 3, The Class Struggles in France, 1848 to 1850 https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1850/class-struggles-france/ch03.htm (1850)

James Eastland photo

“This decision reveals an alarming tendency to destroy the sovereignty of the states. Our supreme court is usurping the legislative function, and Congress may yet prove the last citadel of constitutional government”

James Eastland (1904–1986) American politician

"Dixie Members Of Congress Bitterly Hit Court Ruling" https://www.newspapers.com/clip/12135575/the_greenville_news/. The Greenville News. United Press. April 4, 1944. p. 4 ; ‘Congressmen From South Hit Negro Vote Rule’; Los Angeles Times; April 4, 1944, p. 2
Speech following Smith v. Allright, which outlawed white primaries as used in Mississippi
1940s

Robert M. Pirsig photo
Jack Kerouac photo

“A man needs truth like a machine needs oil.”

Jack Kerouac (1922–1969) American writer

Often attributed to Kerouac's novel Big Sur, the quote cannot be found in that book, nor in any of Kerouac's other published works. It is, in fact, a quote by the Kerouac character in the movie of Big Sur (2013) and therefore composed by the screenplay writer Michael Polish, rather than by Jack Kerouac.
Misattributed

Michael Swanwick photo
Günter Grass photo

“Even bad books are books, and therefore sacred.”

Günter Grass (1927–2015) German novelist, poet, playwright, illustrator, graphic artist, sculptor

The Tin Drum Book 1, "Rasputin and the Alphabet" (1959), as translated by Ralph Manheim (1961)

Related topics