To those who visited the old Library of Congress at the Capitol he will always be associated with it — a long, lean figure, in scrupulous frock, erect at a standing desk, and intent upon its littered burden, while the masses of material surged incoherently about him. – Herbert Putnam, of librarian Ainsworth Rand Spofford (1825–1908), 1908, wo

Reginald was nearly all day at his office, and half the night at his stand-up desk in his room. – Henry Kingsley, “Reginald Hetherege,” 1874

And the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play. – Bible, Exodus XXXII

Helen started, and said she feared she had been sitting too long idle. – Maria Edgeworth (1768–1849), Helen, 1834