--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: He who first shortened the labor of…" description: "\"He who first shortened the labor of Copyists by device of Movable Types was disbanding hired armies and cashiering most Kings and Senates, and creating..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/34b/thomas-carlyle-207_army_he-who-first-shortened-the-labor-of-copy_970313.jpg" --- # He who first shortened the labor of Copyists by device of… ![“He who first shortened the labor of Copyists by device of Movable Types was disbanding hired armies and cashiering most Kings and Senates, and creating a whole new Democratic world: he had invented the Art of printing.” quote by Thomas Carlyle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/34b/thomas-carlyle-207_army_he-who-first-shortened-the-labor-of-copy_970313.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/34b/thomas-carlyle-207_army_he-who-first-shortened-the-labor-of-copy_970313.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/34b/thomas-carlyle-207_army_he-who-first-shortened-the-labor-of-copy_970313.jpg) > “He who first shortened the labor of Copyists by device of Movable Types was disbanding hired armies and cashiering most Kings and Senates, and creating a whole new Democratic world: he had invented the Art of printing.” [Thomas Carlyle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-carlyle/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Printing democratized knowledge, weakening traditional power structures and creating new societal dynamics. **In simple terms:** Printing reshaped power and democracy. Key Takeaway Recognize the impact of technology on society. Themes technology democracy power history Mood thought‑provoking historical Type analysis philosophical When to use this quote - education reform - political activism - publishing industry Key Concepts information diffusion social change media evolution Questions to Reflect On - How does modern media echo printing’s impact? - What responsibilities come with spreading information? A Different Perspective Technology can also concentrate power in new hands. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Army](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/army/) [Art](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/art/) [Creating](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/creating/) [Kings](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/kings/) [Labor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/labor/) [Senate](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/senate/) [World](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/world/) ## Related quotes > [The art of printing secures us against the retrogradation of reason and information.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/the-art-of-printing-secures-us-against-the-retrogradation-of-reason/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [“While the art of printing is left to us science can never be retrograde; what is once acquired of real knowledge can never be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/while-the-art-of-printing-is-left-to-us-science-can-never-be/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [Every school boy and school girl who has arrived at the age of reflection ought to know something about the history of the art…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/horace-mann/every-school-boy-and-school-girl-who-has-arrived-at-the-age-of/) [Horace Mann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/horace-mann/) > [Sentence writers are not copyists; they are selectors.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stanley-fish/sentence-writers-are-not-copyists-they-are-selectors/) [Stanley Fish](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stanley-fish/) > [Europeans invented art for the last 300 years, and the Americans kind of killed it with a big, huge rock.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chilly-gonzales/europeans-invented-art-for-the-last-300-years-and-the-americans-kind/) [Chilly Gonzales](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chilly-gonzales/) > [Hippodamus, son of Euryphon, a native of Miletus, invented the art of planning and laid out the street plan of Piraeus.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aristotle/hippodamus-son-of-euryphon-a-native-of-miletus-invented-the-art-of/) [Aristotle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aristotle/) > [At first he who invented any art that went beyond the common perceptions of man was naturally admired by men, not only because there…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aristotle/at-first-he-who-invented-any-art-that-went-beyond-the-common/) [Aristotle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aristotle/) > [I am the laziest man in the world. I invented all those things to save myself from toil.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/benjamin-franklin/i-am-the-laziest-man-in-the-world-i-invented-all-those-things-to-save/) [Benjamin Franklin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/benjamin-franklin/) > [When the world around you is falling to pieces. 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I don't agree.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/julian-fellowes/people-tend-to-view-history-as-if-it-were-another-planet-and-think/) [Julian Fellowes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/julian-fellowes/) > [The concepts "beyond" and "real world" were invented in order to depreciate the only world that exists-in order that no goal, no aim or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/the-concepts-beyond-and-real-world-were-invented-in-order-to/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [If you took away everything in the world that had to be invented, there'd be nothing left except a lot of people getting rained…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-stoppard/if-you-took-away-everything-in-the-world-that-had-to-be-invented/) [Tom Stoppard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-stoppard/) > [“News invented the modern world as much as the modern world invented news. Finding out what was going on elsewhere in the world change…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lawrence-kleep/news-invented-the-modern-world-as-much-as-the-modern-world-invented/) Lawrence Kleep ## More by Thomas Carlyle > [O thou that pinest in the imprisonment of the Actual, and criest bitterly to the gods for a kingdom wherein to rule and create,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-carlyle/o-thou-that-pinest-in-the-imprisonment-of-the-actual-and-criest/) [Thomas Carlyle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-carlyle/) > [Whose school-hours are all the days and nights of our existence.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-carlyle/whose-school-hours-are-all-the-days-and-nights-of-our-existence/) [Thomas Carlyle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-carlyle/) > [No sadder proof can be given by a man of his own littleness than disbelief in great men.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-carlyle/no-sadder-proof-can-be-given-by-a-man-of-his-own-littleness-than/) [Thomas Carlyle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-carlyle/) > [Fame, we may understand, is no sure test of merit, but only a probability of such: it is an accident, not a property, of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-carlyle/fame-we-may-understand-is-no-sure-test-of-merit-but-only-a/) [Thomas Carlyle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-carlyle/) > [The sincere alone can recognize sincerity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-carlyle/the-sincere-alone-can-recognize-sincerity/) [Thomas Carlyle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-carlyle/) > [Be a pattern to others, and then all will go well; for as a whole city is affected by the licentious passions and vices…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-carlyle/be-a-pattern-to-others-and-then-all-will-go-well-for-as-a-whole-city/) [Thomas Carlyle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-carlyle/) > [The glory of a workman, still more of a master workman, that he does his work well, ought to be his most precious possession;…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-carlyle/the-glory-of-a-workman-still-more-of-a-master-workman-that-he-does/) [Thomas Carlyle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-carlyle/) > [All human things do require to have an ideal in them; to have some soul in them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-carlyle/all-human-things-do-require-to-have-an-ideal-in-them-to-have-some/) [Thomas Carlyle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-carlyle/) > [Insurrection, never so necessary, is a most sad necessity; and governors who wait for that to instruct them are surely getting into the fatalest…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-carlyle/insurrection-never-so-necessary-is-a-most-sad-necessity-and-governors/) [Thomas Carlyle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-carlyle/) > [What is philosophy but a continual battle against custom?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-carlyle/what-is-philosophy-but-a-continual-battle-against-custom/) [Thomas Carlyle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-carlyle/) > [Let Time and Chance combine, combine! Let Time and Chance combine! The fairest love from heaven above, That love of yours was mine, My…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-carlyle/let-time-and-chance-combine-combine-let-time-and-chance-combine-the/) [Thomas Carlyle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-carlyle/) > [Thought will not work except in silence.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-carlyle/thought-will-not-work-except-in-silence/) [Thomas Carlyle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-carlyle/) > [The public is anold woman.Let her maunderand mumble.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-carlyle/the-public-is-anold-woman-let-her-maunderand-mumble/) [Thomas Carlyle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-carlyle/) > [Does not every true man feel that he is himself made higher by doing reverence to what is really above him?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-carlyle/does-not-every-true-man-feel-that-he-is-himself-made-higher-by-doing/) [Thomas Carlyle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-carlyle/) > [The press is the fourth estate of the realm.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-carlyle/the-press-is-the-fourth-estate-of-the-realm/) [Thomas Carlyle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-carlyle/) [Explore all 917 Thomas Carlyle quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-carlyle/) ## More Army quotes > [There are no more worlds to conquer!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexander-the-great/there-are-no-more-worlds-to-conquer/) [Alexander the Great](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexander-the-great/) > [“In American terms, the accomplishment of Genghis Khan might be understood if the United States, instead of being created by a group of educated…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jack-weatherford/in-american-terms-the-accomplishment-of-genghis-khan-might-be/) [Jack Weatherford](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jack-weatherford/) > [Every army in the history of the world has always had some deserters, usually much greater than we have today, because once again every…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bryan-hilferty/every-army-in-the-history-of-the-world-has-always-had-some-deserters/) [Bryan Hilferty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bryan-hilferty/) > [It is the rule in war, if our forces are ten to the enemy's one, to surround him; if five to one, to attack…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sun-tzu/it-is-the-rule-in-war-if-our-forces-are-ten-to-the-enemy-s-one-to/) [Sun Tzu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sun-tzu/) > [The surprise of an army is now next to an impossibility. ... 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But it's - I'm very clear.… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-mattis/i-can-t-imagine-that-i-would-be-asked-that-by-the-president-elect/) [James Mattis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-mattis/) > [Holy shadows of the dead, I'm not to blame for your cruel and bitter fate, but the accursed rivalry which brought sister nations and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexander-the-great/holy-shadows-of-the-dead-i-m-not-to-blame-for-your-cruel-and-bitter/) [Alexander the Great](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexander-the-great/) > [“The most important lesson that came out of Vietnam for me was that Marines take care of Marines.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-clancy/the-most-important-lesson-that-came-out-of-vietnam-for-me-was-that/) [Tom Clancy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-clancy/) > [One of our great allies at present is the Church itself. Do not misunderstand me. I do not mean the Church as we see…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-s-lewis/one-of-our-great-allies-at-present-is-the-church-itself-do-not/) [C. S. Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-s-lewis/) > [I have real strong feelings about our troops and support them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-fichtner/i-have-real-strong-feelings-about-our-troops-and-support-them/) [William Fichtner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-fichtner/) > [Personally, I don't really have a set style or look. 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