Lichtenberg.
8. Socrates lacked that common weakness of discussing in his arguments all sorts of existing things, speculating on the origin of what the sophists call nature, and progress-ii^ to the basic principles of the origin of celestial bodies. "Do men really imagine," he said, "that they have attained the knowledge of all things that are essential to them thit they engage in speculating on things that so little concern them?"
He marveled especially at the blindness of those alleged scientists who failed to realize that the human mind is incapable of fathoming these mysteries. "This is why," he said, "all these men daring to discuss these mysteries fail to agree on basic principles, and as you listen to them when they meet together you seem to be near a gathering of mad-
men. And what indeed are the distinguishing characteristics of the unfortunates possessed by lunacy? They fear the things wherein there is nothing terrifying, and boldly face those that are dangerous indeed." Xenophon,
9. Wisdom is a great and extensive subject. It demands all the leisure that may be dedicated to it No matter how many problems you succeed in solving, there will be many more requiring investigation and solution over which you will have to toil. These problems are so vast, so numerous that they require the elimination from your consciousness of all extraneous matters so as to leave full scope for the labor of your mind. Should I waste my life on mere words? Yet it frequently happens that learned men think more of discussions than they do of life. Observe how great an evil is caused by excessive hairsplitting and how harmful it may be to truth. Seneca.
10. Science is food for the mind. And this food may be as harmful to the mind as physical food to the body, if it be impure or over-sweetened or absorbed in excessive quantities. It is possible to over-eat mentally and to be made sick thereby.
In order to avoid this it is necessary to take mental food just as physical food, only when hung^, when feeling a desire for knowledge, and only then when knowledge is requisite for the soul.
V.
Of Varieties of Knowledlge there is no End. The Business of True Science is to Select the Most Important and Necessary Among Them
1. Not to know is neither shameful nor injurious— one cannot know ever)rthing, brt it is both shameful and injurious to pretend to know tbat which one does not know.
2. The capacity of the mind to absorb knowledge has its limits. Therefore you must not think that the more you know the better it is for you. The knowledge of a great mass of trifles is an insuperable obstacle to the knowledge of that which is truly needful.
3. The mind is strengthened by the study of that which is needful and important to man and is weakened by the study of that which is useless and trifling just as surely as the body is strengthened by fresh air and food, and weakened by foul air and food Ruskin.
4. In modern times a vast body of knowledge worthy of study has been accumulated. Soon our faculties will be too weak and our life too brief to assimilate even the most useful portion of this knowledge. A vast abundance of treasure is at our service, but having absorbed it we must reject much as needless rubbish. It is better then not to burden oneself with it. Kant.
5. There is no end to knowledge. Therefore it cannot be said of him who knows much that he knows mpre than he who knows very little.
6. One of the commonest phenomena of our times is to see men who consider themselves learned, educated and enlightened, knowing a vast mass of useless things, yet remaining steeped in crassest ignorance, not alone failing to perceive the true meaning of hfe, hut even glorying in their ignorance. And on the contrary it is just as common to find amcHig uneducated and illiterate men, who know nothing of chemical agents, parallax or properties of radium, truly enlightened persons knowing the meaning of life and yet without any pride whatsover.
7. People cannot know or understand everything that is going on in the world, wherefore thirii уаЛ^стх^. ^аа.-тса»>1
' /
:Г /\'7d• OF LIFE
4.V Л1С two kinds of lack of knowl-
.^anal lack of knowledge, the state
. .11. The other may be termed the
. \ wiso. When a man exhausts all the
. 1.1 iluit men know or have ever known,
.1 ill 14 knowledge massed together is so
.11 11 lot enable him to comprehend the
. . iikl he will come to the conclusion that
л 1м%к;1Пу know as little as the ordinary un-
. . !i'. Hut there are superficial men who have
■ Лу: here and a little there, who have familiarized
\. . \wih surface knowledge of various sciences and
чч'мк" 44»nceited. They departed from the natural
.... l»iit have not yet attained the true wisdom of
. \л11кч1 men who have grasped the imperfection and
n:ilii\ i>f all human knowledge. These are the people,
, !i ihiMr own estimation, who bring confusion into the
\\. They judge all things confidently and rashly, and
II ally I'uough they err constantly. They know how to
i.i'w ilust in the eyes of the people, and are frequently
u III4141, but the common people despise them, being aware
л ihoir worthlessness. And they in turn despise the com-
iiK»u people, considering them ignorant. Pascal,
8. People frequently think that the more one knows ihc better it is. This is not so. The main thing is not to know much, but to know the most needful out of the mass of knowable.
9. Do not fear lack of knowledge, but fear excess of knowledge, particularly if this excessive knowledge be for profit or praise. It is better to know less than one might than more than one ought. Excessive knowledge makes men self-satisfied and self-assured, and therefore more fool-jsh than they would be if they knew nothing.
10. Wise men are not as a rule learned, learned men are not as a rule wise. Lao-Tse.
11. Owls see in the dark, but sunlight blinds them. Even so it is with learned people. They know much superfluous scientific dap-trap, but neither know nor can know the most needful thing in life: how a man ought to live in the world.
12. Socrates the philosopher said that stupidity is not to know little, but failing to know oneself and thinking that you know what you do not know. This he called stupidity plus ignorance.
13. If a man knew all sciences and spake all languages but did not know what he is and what he ought to do, he would be less enlightened than the old woman who believes in a Saviour, that is in a God whose will she recognizes in her life and who knows that God demands righteousness of her. She is more enlightened than the scientist because she has found an answer to the most important question: what is her life and how she must live. Yet the scientist having the cleverest answers for the most complex, but essentially trifling questions, has no answer to the most important question of each rational being: why do I live, and what ought I to do?
14. People who think that the most important thing in life is knowledge are like moths that fly against the candle: they perish themselves and obscure the light.
VI.
Wherein is the Substance and the Aim of True Science?
1. People either term that as science which is the most important science in the world, according to which man may learn how he ought to live in the world, or all that
which it flatters a man to know and which may or may not do him any good. The first kind of knowledge is truly a great thing, but the second is for the most part a futile pursuit.
2. There are two unmistakable marks of true science: first an inner mark, in that the servant of science fulfills his calling not for gain, but in self-denial, and the second an outward mark in that his work is intelligible to all men.