He was a rake among scholars, and a scholar among rakes. – Thomas Babington Macaulay

A reading machine, always wound up and going, he mastered whatever was not worth the knowing. – James Russell Lowell

People often become scholars for the same reason they become soldiers: simply because they are unfit for any other station. Their right hand has to earn them a livelihood; one might say they lie down like bears in winter and seek sustenance from their paws. – G. C. (Georg Christoph) Lichtenberg