On Readers

Readers may be divided into four classes:
1. Sponges, who absorb all they read, and return it nearly in the same state, only a little dirtied.
2. Sand-glasses, who retain nothing, and are content to get through a book for the sake of getting through the time.
3. Strain-bags, who retain merely the dregs of what they read.
4. Mogul-diamonds, equally rare and valuable, who profit by what they read, and enable others to profit by it also.

SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE, Lectures [1811-1812]