"Do not seek for information of which you cannot make use"
About this Quote
Brackett’s line is a quiet rebuke to a very modern addiction: treating knowledge like a collectible. Coming from an educator, it isn’t anti-intellectual; it’s anti-hoarding. The intent is pragmatic and moral at once: information has a cost (time, attention, cognitive clutter), and learning earns its dignity when it changes what you can do, decide, or become.
The subtext pokes at a classroom dynamic Brackett would have recognized immediately: students trained to accumulate facts for recitation, not for agency. “Cannot make use” is the key phrase. It shifts education from performance to application, from showing you know to acting differently because you know. It also smuggles in a warning about power. Information can be intoxicating precisely because it feels like control; Brackett suggests that control is an illusion unless it cashes out in judgment, skill, or ethical action.
Context matters. As a 19th-century American educator and advocate for women’s education, Brackett worked in a world where access to schooling and professional life was uneven. In that environment, “use” isn’t crass utilitarianism; it’s a claim for relevance. Learn what equips you to navigate institutions that weren’t built for you. Invest in knowledge that expands your options, not knowledge that flatters your sense of being “well read.”
The quote also anticipates today’s attention economy. Endless feeds produce endless “information” with diminishing returns. Brackett’s sentence reads like an early algorithm-proofing strategy: treat curiosity as a tool, not a treadmill.
The subtext pokes at a classroom dynamic Brackett would have recognized immediately: students trained to accumulate facts for recitation, not for agency. “Cannot make use” is the key phrase. It shifts education from performance to application, from showing you know to acting differently because you know. It also smuggles in a warning about power. Information can be intoxicating precisely because it feels like control; Brackett suggests that control is an illusion unless it cashes out in judgment, skill, or ethical action.
Context matters. As a 19th-century American educator and advocate for women’s education, Brackett worked in a world where access to schooling and professional life was uneven. In that environment, “use” isn’t crass utilitarianism; it’s a claim for relevance. Learn what equips you to navigate institutions that weren’t built for you. Invest in knowledge that expands your options, not knowledge that flatters your sense of being “well read.”
The quote also anticipates today’s attention economy. Endless feeds produce endless “information” with diminishing returns. Brackett’s sentence reads like an early algorithm-proofing strategy: treat curiosity as a tool, not a treadmill.
Quote Details
| Topic | Knowledge |
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