It was "culture against ignorance; the college against the ranch; and the ranch beat every time." Do not expect too much from books.

Bacon said that studies "teach not their own use, but that there is a practical wisdom without them, won by observation." The use of books must be found outside their own lids.

It was said of a great French scholar: "He was drowned in his talents." Over-culture, without practical experience, weakens a man, and unfits him for real life.

Book education alone tends to make a man too critical, too self-conscious, timid, distrustful of his abilities, too fine for the mechanical drudgery of practical life, too highly polished, and too finely cultured for every day use.
The culture of books and colleges refines, yet it is often but an ethical culture, and is gained at the cost of vigor and rugged strength.

Book culture alone tends to paralyze the practical faculties.