Oho, now I know what you are. You are an advocate of Useful Knowledge.. Well, allow me to introduce myself to you as an advocate of Ornamental Knowledge. You like the mind to be a neat machine, equipped to work efficiently, if narrowly, and with no extra bits or useless parts. I like the mind to be a dustbin of scraps of brilliant fabric, odd gems, worthless but fascinating curiosities, tinsel, quaint bits of carving, and a reasonable amount of healthy dirt. Shake the machine and it goes out of order; shake the dustbin and it adjusts itself beautifully to its new position. Robertson Davies
About This Quote

This quote is attributed to George Bernard Shaw, but there is no record of it in his biography. He did write, I like to think that I am an "advocate of Useful Knowledge." It gives me pleasure to see my fellow-men at work; it is like working myself. The person who does not like this kind of work is a man without imagination, who has no hobby. The quote seems to be saying that the mind should be able to think about many things, because if it can think about many things then it can get excited about many things. The mind should not get stuck on one subject only; it should be able to think about many subjects at once.

Source: Tempesttost

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