the nice people whom you delight in either never knew any at all or forgot what they had learned as soon as they could
 Samuel Butler, The Way of All Flesh (1903). copy citation

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Author Samuel Butler
Source The Way of All Flesh
Topic learning forgetting
Date 1903
Language English
Reference
Note
Weblink http://www.gutenberg.org/files/2084/2084-h/2084-h.htm

Context

“it requires attention, and you are not strong enough to attend to your bodily growth, and to your lessons too. Besides, Latin and Greek are great humbug; the more people know of them the more odious they generally are; the nice people whom you delight in either never knew any at all or forgot what they had learned as soon as they could; they never turned to the classics after they were no longer forced to read them; therefore they are nonsense, all very well in their own time and country, but out of place here. Never learn anything until you find you have been made uncomfortable for a good long while by not knowing it;” source