There are some people who read too much: the bibliobibuli. I know some who are constantly drunk on books, as other men are drunk on whiskey or religion. They wander through this most diverting and stimulating of worlds in a haze, seeing nothing and hearing nothing.
Interpretation
The quote critiques those who become so absorbed in reading that they lose touch with reality.
H. L. Mencken's quote discusses the dangers of excessive reading, suggesting that while books can be enlightening and diverting, they can also lead to a form of intellectual intoxication. The term 'bibliobibuli' humorously characterizes individuals who are so consumed by literature that they neglect the world around them, akin to being drunk. It warns against the idea of losing one's ability to perceive and engage with reality due to an obsession with books and knowledge.
In practice
In a speech about the importance of balance between reading and real-life experiences.
I know a good many men of great learning-that is, men born with an extraordinary eagerness and capacity to acquire knowledge. One and all, they tell me that they can't recall learning anything of any value in school. All that schoolmasters managed to accomplish with them was to test and determine the amount of knowledge that they had already acquired independently-and not infrequently the determination was made clumsily and inaccurately.
It takes a long while for a naturally trustful person to reconcile himself to the idea that after all God will not help him
It is the theory of all modern civilized governments that they protect and foster the liberty of the citizen; it is the practice of all of them to limit its exercise, and sometimes very narrowly.
The central belief of every moron is that he is the victim of a mysterious conspiracy against his common rights and true deserts.
The cure for the evils of democracy is more democracy.
It is my conviction that no normal man ever fell in love, within the ordinary meaning of the term, after the age of thirty.
The greatest investment a young person can make is in their own education, in their own mind. Because money comes and goes. Relationships come and go. But what you learn once stays with you forever.
It is necessary to study these words you have written, for the words have a longer history than you have and say more than you know.
I got a scholarship to Seattle University and I was writing arrangements for singers and everybody. But the music course was too dry and I really wanted to get away from home.
All practical teachers know that education is a patient process of mastery of details, minute by minute, hour by hour, day by day.
Violence is black children going to school for 12 years and receiving 6 years' worth of education.
If I had a choice of educating my daughters or my sons because of opportunity constraints, I would choose to educate my daughters.
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