Gathering fuel for the sake of the fire, not at its expense...

It ought not to be so, but it has often happened that the student in college has gathered fuel, but lost the fire which is to kindle it.  It will be our everlasting disgrace if we bury our flame beneath the fagots which are intended to sustain it.  If we degenerate into bookworms it will be to the old serpent's delight, and to our own misery.   ~   Charles Haddon Spurgeon