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 task of the educator lies in seeing that the child does not confound good with immobility and evil with activity.
Far too often, girls are not given the space and opportunities they need to achieve their full potential.
You can't understand European history at all other than through religion, or English literature either if you can't recognise biblical allusions.
I love writing for young people. It's the literature that was most important to me, the stories that shaped me and informed my own journey as a writer.
There are many great authors of the past who have survived centuries of oblivion and neglect, but it is still an open question whether they will be able to survive an entertaining version of what they have to say.
The biggest job we have is to teach a newly hired employee how to fail intelligently. We have to train him to experiment over and over and to keep on trying and failing until he learns what will work.
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