“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 Longfellow 202
American poet 1807–1882Related quotes
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)

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.
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.”
Misattributed
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

Wellington's papers (17 August 1815), as quoted in The History of England from the Accession of James II (1848) by Thomas Babington Macaulay