--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: It used to be that readers were relegated…" description: "\"It used to be that readers were relegated because they considered themselves far above society, and so the metaphor of the ivory tower developed. Now t..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3d5/alberto-manguel-2467_books_it-used-to-be-that-readers-were-relegate_1702297.jpg" --- # It used to be that readers were relegated because they… ![“It used to be that readers were relegated because they considered themselves far above society, and so the metaphor of the ivory tower developed. Now there's still this idea that the reader doesn't take part in the social game and in politics, the res publica, but for other reasons: he doesn't do…” quote by Alberto Manguel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3d5/alberto-manguel-2467_books_it-used-to-be-that-readers-were-relegate_1702297.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3d5/alberto-manguel-2467_books_it-used-to-be-that-readers-were-relegate_1702297.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3d5/alberto-manguel-2467_books_it-used-to-be-that-readers-were-relegate_1702297.jpg) > “It used to be that readers were relegated because they considered themselves far above society, and so the metaphor of the ivory tower developed. Now there's still this idea that the reader doesn't take part in the social game and in politics, the res publica, but for other reasons: he doesn't do it because he's not making any money.” [Alberto Manguel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alberto-manguel/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Readers were once seen as aloof elites, creating the “ivory tower” metaphor; now disengagement is often due to financial motives. **In simple terms:** Readers once aloof, now disengaged for money. Key Takeaway Consider how economic pressures affect intellectual participation. Themes elitism economics reading social engagement Mood thoughtful analytical Type sociological critical When to use this quote - academic life - media consumption - political discourse Key Concepts sociology literary criticism Questions to Reflect On - Why do readers disengage today? - How does money shape literary culture? A Different Perspective Financial incentives can limit genuine intellectual curiosity. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Books](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/books/) [Games](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/games/) [Ideas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ideas/) [Ivory](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ivory/) [Ivory tower](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ivory-tower/) [Metaphor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/metaphor/) [Money](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/money/) [Readers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/readers/) [Reason](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/reason/) [Social](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/social/) ## Related quotes > [There's an interesting book about that called The Third Reich and the Ivory Tower, written by Stephen H. Norwood. It has a long discussion…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/noam-chomsky/there-s-an-interesting-book-about-that-called-the-third-reich-and-the/) [Noam Chomsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/noam-chomsky/) > [I don't see myself in an ivory tower.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeff-buckley/i-don-t-see-myself-in-an-ivory-tower/) [Jeff Buckley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeff-buckley/) > [Friedmans influence reaches far beyond the academic community and the world of economics. Rather than lock himself in an ivory tower, he has joined…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-e-simon/friedmans-influence-reaches-far-beyond-the-academic-community-and-the/) [William E. Simon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-e-simon/) > [Language evolves and moves on. It is an organic thing. It is not stuck in an ivory tower, hung with expensive works of art.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-l-james-2/language-evolves-and-moves-on-it-is-an-organic-thing-it-is-not-stuck/) [E. L. James](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-l-james-2/) > [Maybe what I admired most about John Steinbeck is that he never mortgaged his 45-acre heart for a suite in an ivory tower.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-robbins/maybe-what-i-admired-most-about-john-steinbeck-is-that-he-never/) [Tom Robbins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-robbins/) > [For me or a Bruce Springsteen to sit up in our ivory towers and make comments about racism, well, were not really in it,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-mellencamp/for-me-or-a-bruce-springsteen-to-sit-up-in-our-ivory-towers-and-make/) [John Mellencamp](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-mellencamp/) > [I don't ascribe to the idea of the ivory tower composer who sits alone in a room composing his masterpieces and then comes down…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-zorn/i-don-t-ascribe-to-the-idea-of-the-ivory-tower-composer-who-sits/) [John Zorn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-zorn/) > [Great question in science - questions like the ones Herschel raised about the structure of the universe - are seldom answered by ivory-tower types…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-trefil/great-question-in-science-questions-like-the-ones-herschel-raised/) James Trefil > [If you shut yourself up disdainfully in your ivory tower and insist that you have your own conscience and are satisfied with its approval,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/luigi-pirandello/if-you-shut-yourself-up-disdainfully-in-your-ivory-tower-and-insist/) [Luigi Pirandello](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/luigi-pirandello/) > [I make friends easily. I'm a gregarious guy, I'm open, I'm easy to get to know - I don't lock myself in an ivory…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jerry-weintraub/i-make-friends-easily-i-m-a-gregarious-guy-i-m-open-i-m-easy-to-get/) [Jerry Weintraub](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jerry-weintraub/) > [I am an idealist. I often feel I would like to be an artist in an ivory tower. Yet it is imperative that I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-eugene-smith/i-am-an-idealist-i-often-feel-i-would-like-to-be-an-artist-in-an/) [W. Eugene Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-eugene-smith/) > [The ivory tower of the artist may be the only stronghold left for human values, cultural treasures, man’s cult of beauty.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anais-nin/the-ivory-tower-of-the-artist-may-be-the-only-stronghold-left-for/) [Anais Nin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anais-nin/) > [As for mathematicians themselves: don't expect too much help. Most of them are too far removed in their ivory towers to take up such…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/apostolos-doxiadis/as-for-mathematicians-themselves-don-t-expect-too-much-help-most-of/) [Apostolos Doxiadis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/apostolos-doxiadis/) > [The commonest ivory tower is that of the average man, the state of passivity towards experience.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-h-auden/the-commonest-ivory-tower-is-that-of-the-average-man-the-state-of/) [W. H. Auden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-h-auden/) > [It's about communication, no matter how impossibly hard your art is to understand and how much of an ivory tower or high horse you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wayne-white/it-s-about-communication-no-matter-how-impossibly-hard-your-art-is-to/) [Wayne White](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wayne-white/) ## More by Alberto Manguel > [Most readers, then and now, have at some time experienced the humiliation of being told that their occupation is reprehensible.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alberto-manguel/most-readers-then-and-now-have-at-some-time-experienced-the/) [Alberto Manguel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alberto-manguel/) > [Libraries, whether my own or shared with a greater reading public, have always seemed to me pleasantly mad places, and for as long as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alberto-manguel/libraries-whether-my-own-or-shared-with-a-greater-reading-public-have/) [Alberto Manguel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alberto-manguel/) > [At different times and in different places I have come to expect certain books to look a certain way, and, as in all fashions,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alberto-manguel/at-different-times-and-in-different-places-i-have-come-to-expect/) [Alberto Manguel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alberto-manguel/) > [I have no feelings of guilt regarding the books I have not read and perhaps will never read; I know that my books have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alberto-manguel/i-have-no-feelings-of-guilt-regarding-the-books-i-have-not-read-and/) [Alberto Manguel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alberto-manguel/) > [“Then one day, from the window of a car (the destination of that journey is now forgotten), I saw a billboard by the side…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alberto-manguel/then-one-day-from-the-window-of-a-car-the-destination-of-that-journey/) [Alberto Manguel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alberto-manguel/) > [The shelves of books we haven't written, like those of books we haven't read, stretches out into the darkness of the universal library's farthest…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alberto-manguel/the-shelves-of-books-we-haven-t-written-like-those-of-books-we-haven/) [Alberto Manguel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alberto-manguel/) > [“I have no feeling of guilt regarding the books I have not read and perhaps will never read; I know that my books have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alberto-manguel/i-have-no-feeling-of-guilt-regarding-the-books-i-have-not-read-and/) [Alberto Manguel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alberto-manguel/) > [Old books that we have known but not possessed cross our path and invite themselves over. New books try to seduce us daily with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alberto-manguel/old-books-that-we-have-known-but-not-possessed-cross-our-path-and/) [Alberto Manguel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alberto-manguel/) > [Ordered by subject, by importance, ordered according to whether the book was penned by God or by one of God's creatures, ordered alphabetically or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alberto-manguel/ordered-by-subject-by-importance-ordered-according-to-whether-the/) [Alberto Manguel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alberto-manguel/) > [The starting point is a question.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alberto-manguel/the-starting-point-is-a-question/) [Alberto Manguel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alberto-manguel/) > [“Ljubav je imbecilna izvesnost pomoću koje naša fantazija stvara verodostojnu utvaru.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alberto-manguel/ljubav-je-imbecilna-izvesnost-pomo-u-koje-na-a-fantazija-stvara/) [Alberto Manguel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alberto-manguel/) > [I know that something dies when i give up my books, and that my memory keeps going back to them with mournful nostalgia.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alberto-manguel/i-know-that-something-dies-when-i-give-up-my-books-and-that-my-memory/) [Alberto Manguel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alberto-manguel/) > [Something about the possession of a book - an object that can contain infinite fables, words of wisdom, chronicles of times gone by, humorous…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alberto-manguel/something-about-the-possession-of-a-book-an-object-that-can-contain/) [Alberto Manguel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alberto-manguel/) > [Maybe this is why we read, and why in moments of darkness we return to books: to find words for what we already know.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alberto-manguel/maybe-this-is-why-we-read-and-why-in-moments-of-darkness-we-return-to/) [Alberto Manguel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alberto-manguel/) > [As centuries of dictators have known, an illiterate crowd is the easiest to rule; since the craft of reading cannot be untaught once it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alberto-manguel/as-centuries-of-dictators-have-known-an-illiterate-crowd-is-the/) [Alberto Manguel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alberto-manguel/) [Explore all 159 Alberto Manguel quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alberto-manguel/) ## More Books quotes > [I think a new world will arise out of the religious mists when we approach our Bible with the idea that it is not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aiden-wilson-tozer/i-think-a-new-world-will-arise-out-of-the-religious-mists-when-we/) [Aiden Wilson Tozer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aiden-wilson-tozer/) > [If I had a dollar for every time I couldn’t sleep, I could buy a billion locks and finally read a book in peace.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aesop-rock/if-i-had-a-dollar-for-every-time-i-couldn-t-sleep-i-could-buy-a/) [Aesop Rock](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aesop-rock/) > [If what I write is literature, I guess you'd better emphasize the 'litter.'](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lydia-lunch/if-what-i-write-is-literature-i-guess-you-d-better-emphasize-the/) [Lydia Lunch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lydia-lunch/) > [My sentences got sharper and my stories more efficient, and I gradually learned to imagine the reader more clearly and to empathize with that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karen-thompson-walker/my-sentences-got-sharper-and-my-stories-more-efficient-and-i/) [Karen Thompson Walker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karen-thompson-walker/) > [Young men, especially in America, write to me and ask me to recommend “a course of reading.” Distrust a course of reading! People who…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-lang/young-men-especially-in-america-write-to-me-and-ask-me-to-recommend-a/) [Andrew Lang](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-lang/) > [“Within the pages of books, I've journeyed to Mandalay, the Milky Way and Santa Fe, without once having to leave my armchair.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kevin-ansbro/within-the-pages-of-books-i-ve-journeyed-to-mandalay-the-milky-way/) [Kevin Ansbro](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kevin-ansbro/) > [The Rosary is the book of the blind.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fulton-j-sheen/the-rosary-is-the-book-of-the-blind/) [Fulton J. Sheen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fulton-j-sheen/) > [“Tacitus did not write a most dangerous book. His readers made it so.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christopher-k-krebs/tacitus-did-not-write-a-most-dangerous-book-his-readers-made-it-so/) Christopher K. Krebs > [“Take some books and read; that’s an immense help; and books are always good company if you have the right sort.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/louisa-may-alcott/take-some-books-and-read-that-s-an-immense-help-and-books-are-always/) [Louisa May Alcott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/louisa-may-alcott/) > [Reader, if you are gifted with nerves like mine, aspire to any character but that of a wit.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-lamb/reader-if-you-are-gifted-with-nerves-like-mine-aspire-to-any/) [Charles Lamb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-lamb/) > [I have many who keep me going, I am very fortunate in this sense. There is nothing like a child who knows more about…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/floyd-cooper/i-have-many-who-keep-me-going-i-am-very-fortunate-in-this-sense-there/) [Floyd Cooper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/floyd-cooper/) > [I think books in which people are really happy and things are going well are probably the most challenging novels there are to write,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-quindlen/i-think-books-in-which-people-are-really-happy-and-things-are-going/) [Anna Quindlen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-quindlen/) > [It's like the query letter problem that I just mentioned, magnified a hundredfold. You might be good at telling a story, but that doesn't…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/patrick-rothfuss/it-s-like-the-query-letter-problem-that-i-just-mentioned-magnified-a/) [Patrick Rothfuss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/patrick-rothfuss/) > [“Be careful about reading health books. Some fine day you'll die of a misprint.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/markus-herz/be-careful-about-reading-health-books-some-fine-day-you-ll-die-of-a/) Markus Herz > [But editors are still the world's readers. And thus the eyes of the world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/betsy-lerner/but-editors-are-still-the-world-s-readers-and-thus-the-eyes-of-the/) [Betsy Lerner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/betsy-lerner/) [Browse all 59,485 Books quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/books/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "It used to be that readers were relegated because they considered themselves far above society, and so the metaphor of the ivory tower developed. 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