“It is not characteristic of American executives to read books, except books on 'management' and mysteries. … Those who who do venture into this arena … are looked upon by their colleagues with mingled awe and incredulity.”

Referring to the lack of established culture and the established institution of slavery in the United States, in "Review of Seybert’s Annals of the United States", published in The Edinburgh Review (1820)
Context: In the four quarters of the globe, who reads an American book? Or goes to an American play? or looks at an American picture or statue? What does the world yet owe to American physicians or surgeons? What new substances have their chemists discovered? Or what old ones have they advanced? What new constellations have been discovered by the telescopes of Americans? Who drinks out of American glasses? Or eats from American plates? Or wears American coats or gowns? or sleeps in American blankets? Finally, under which of the old tyrannical governments of Europe is every sixth man a slave, whom his fellow-creatures may buy and sell and torture?

Source: Lacon (1820) Vol. II; CCXLVIII

Source: The Roominghouse Madrigals: Early Selected Poems, 1946-1966

Source: The Pocket Manager, (1987), p. 161

Variant: The man who does not read has no advantage over the man who cannot read.

"Thinking for Oneself" http://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/s/schopenhauer/arthur/essays/chapter8.html
Essays

Source: The Angel's Game

The Art of Persuasion