“To accumulate work has almost become a passion with me: my study is so full of it now, that there is hardly an inch of room for any more.”
- Date
- 1889
- Attribution
- Source identified
- Voice / speaker
- Fictional narrator · J. (first-person narrator)
What does this quote mean?
Unfinished work is treated like a prized collection, extending the joke by converting avoidance into careful accumulation rather than admitting that tasks have simply not been completed.
Where does it come from?
Three Men in a Boat, Chapter XV; this follows the narrator’s claim that work fascinates him because he can look at it for hours.
Who voices the line?
Fictional narrator · J. (first-person narrator). Three Men in a Boat, Chapter XV; this follows the narrator’s claim that work fascinates him because he can look at it for hours. v4.93 stores the local voice separately from the bibliographic work author.
The source author and the local speaker can be different, especially in fiction, drama, dialogue and poetry.
How should this attribution be read?
This wording is connected with the named source shown above. Translations and editions can vary, so consult the source note when exact wording matters.