Thomas Bulfinch

Thus we hope to teach mythology not as a study, but as a relaxation from study to give our work the charm of a story-book, yet by means of it to impart a knowledge of an important branch of education.

If no other knowledge deserves to be called useful but that which helps to enlarge our possessions or to raise our station in society, then Mythology has no claim to the appellation.

Without a knowledge of mythology much of the elegant literature of our own language cannot be understood and appreciated.