--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Literature is a bad crutch, but a good…" description: "\"Literature is a bad crutch, but a good walking-stick.\" — Charles Lamb" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5b4/charles-lamb-1144_books_literature-is-a-bad-crutch-but-a-good-wa_2908132.jpg" --- # Literature is a bad crutch, but a good walking-stick. ![“Literature is a bad crutch, but a good walking-stick.” quote by Charles Lamb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5b4/charles-lamb-1144_books_literature-is-a-bad-crutch-but-a-good-wa_2908132.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5b4/charles-lamb-1144_books_literature-is-a-bad-crutch-but-a-good-wa_2908132.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5b4/charles-lamb-1144_books_literature-is-a-bad-crutch-but-a-good-wa_2908132.jpg) > “Literature is a bad crutch, but a good walking-stick.” [Charles Lamb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-lamb/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Literature can be a crutch, but a good walking stick offers support without dependence. **In simple terms:** Books can support, but not replace personal effort. Key Takeaway Use literature as a tool, not a crutch. Themes literature support self-reliance Mood reflective inspirational Type personal philosophical When to use this quote - studying - creative writing - self-improvement Key Concepts education psychology Questions to Reflect On - When does reading become a crutch? - How can you balance learning and action? A Different Perspective Overreliance may hinder growth. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Books](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/books/) [Literature](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/literature/) [Walking sticks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/walking-sticks/) [Writer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writer/) ## Related quotes > [The walking stick serves the purpose of an advertisement that the bearer's hands are employed otherwise than in useful effort, and it therefore has…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thorstein-veblen/the-walking-stick-serves-the-purpose-of-an-advertisement-that-the/) [Thorstein Veblen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thorstein-veblen/) > [A stroke of a man knocking a thistle top with a walking stick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-arlott/a-stroke-of-a-man-knocking-a-thistle-top-with-a-walking-stick/) [John Arlott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-arlott/) > [He can play that leg glance with a walking stick also.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/waqar-younis/he-can-play-that-leg-glance-with-a-walking-stick-also/) [Waqar Younis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/waqar-younis/) > [“One should only speak where one cannot remain silent, and only speak of what one has conquered —the rest is all chatter, “literature,” bad…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/one-should-only-speak-where-one-cannot-remain-silent-and-only-speak/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [“In one sense, at any rate, it is more valuable to read bad literature than good literature. 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L. Mencken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-l-mencken/) > [Judge not man by his outward manifestation of faith; for some there are who tremblingly reach out shaking hands to the guidance of faith;…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-lamb/judge-not-man-by-his-outward-manifestation-of-faith-for-some-there/) [Charles Lamb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-lamb/) > [Beware of the man who will not engage in idle conversation; he is planning to steal your walking stick or water your stock.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-emerson/beware-of-the-man-who-will-not-engage-in-idle-conversation-he-is/) William Emerson ## More by Charles Lamb > [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/) > [In the indications of female poverty there can be no disguise. No woman dresses below herself from caprice.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-lamb/in-the-indications-of-female-poverty-there-can-be-no-disguise-no/) [Charles Lamb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-lamb/) > [To sigh, yet feel no pain; To weep, yet scarce know why; To sport an hour with Beauty's chain, Then throw it idly by.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-lamb/to-sigh-yet-feel-no-pain-to-weep-yet-scarce-know-why-to-sport-an-hour/) [Charles Lamb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-lamb/) > [“I love to lose myself in other men's minds. When I am not walking, I am reading.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-lamb/i-love-to-lose-myself-in-other-men-s-minds-when-i-am-not-walking-i-am/) [Charles Lamb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-lamb/) > [While childhood, and while dreams, producing childhood, shall be left, imagination shall not have spread her holy wings totally to fly the earth.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-lamb/while-childhood-and-while-dreams-producing-childhood-shall-be-left/) [Charles Lamb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-lamb/) > [Man, while he loves, is never quite depraved.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-lamb/man-while-he-loves-is-never-quite-depraved/) [Charles Lamb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-lamb/) > [Summer, as my friend Coleridge waggishly writes, has set in with its usual severity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-lamb/summer-as-my-friend-coleridge-waggishly-writes-has-set-in-with-its/) [Charles Lamb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-lamb/) > [Here cometh April again, and as far as I can see the world hath more fools in it than ever.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-lamb/here-cometh-april-again-and-as-far-as-i-can-see-the-world-hath-more/) [Charles Lamb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-lamb/) > [A presentation copy...is a copy of a book whoch does not sell, sent you by the author, with his foolish autograph at the beginning…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-lamb/a-presentation-copy-is-a-copy-of-a-book-whoch-does-not-sell-sent-you/) [Charles Lamb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-lamb/) > [I counsel thee, shut not thy heart, nor thy library.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-lamb/i-counsel-thee-shut-not-thy-heart-nor-thy-library/) [Charles Lamb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-lamb/) > [Nothing to me is more distasteful than that entire complacency and satisfaction which beam in the countenances of a new married couple; in that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-lamb/nothing-to-me-is-more-distasteful-than-that-entire-complacency-and/) [Charles Lamb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-lamb/) > [My theory is to enjoy life, but the practice is against it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-lamb/my-theory-is-to-enjoy-life-but-the-practice-is-against-it/) [Charles Lamb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-lamb/) > [All, all are gone, the old familiar faces.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-lamb/all-all-are-gone-the-old-familiar-faces/) [Charles Lamb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-lamb/) > [Those evening bells! those evening bells! How many a tale their music tells Of youth and home, and that sweet time When last I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-lamb/those-evening-bells-those-evening-bells-how-many-a-tale-their-music/) [Charles Lamb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-lamb/) > [Beholding heaven, and feeling hell.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-lamb/beholding-heaven-and-feeling-hell/) [Charles Lamb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-lamb/) [Explore all 283 Charles Lamb quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-lamb/) ## 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! 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