“A reading-machine, always wound up and going,
He mastered whatever was not worth the knowing.”
Prologue, st. 7
A Fable for Critics (1848)
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James Russell Lowell 175
American poet, critic, editor, and diplomat 1819–1891Related quotes

“A machine has no mind to read; you never know when it’s going to betray you”
Source: World of Ptavvs (1966), p. 6

“Most people worth knowing enjoy reading.”
Source: Grip of the Shadow Plague
“He read it for the same reason an animal tears at a wounded foot: to hurt the pain.”
Source: Miss Lonelyhearts

Small Houses: Their Economic Design and Construction (1922)

Quoted in Jilly Cooper and Tom Hartman, Violets and Vinegar, "The Battle Done," (1980)

Great Books: The Foundation of a Liberal Education (1954)