Huxley...

[fajrdrako]

"If a little knowledge is dangerous, where is the man who has so much as to be out of danger?"
- Thomas Henry Huxley, 1825 - 1895

Comments

[raggedrose.livejournal.com]

Now there's food for thought...

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Isn't it just! I find it a little... reassuring. How much is enough?

[raggedrose.livejournal.com]

Never be too sure of anything, is what it says to me. If you already know, how can you learn?

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

That's always a good approach: never assume you know it all, always be ready to learn more. At the same time, don't be afraid of approaching a subject because you aren't an expert.

[raggedrose.livejournal.com]

LOL--where would experts come from, otherwise...

Besides, new subjects are always the yummiest. It's after you know a fair amount that learning can become a slog. And when you're the most dangerous. It isn't the inexperienced who fall from aloft, it's the cocky.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Yes, and a new subject has excitement to it - even a sense of mystery that can never be found again once it is lose.

[gryphons-lair.livejournal.com]

Ah, but Mr Huxley misquoted.

Here's the original:

A little learning is a dangerous thing;
Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring:
There shallow draughts intoxicate the brain,
And drinking largely sobers us again.

Alexander Pope, Essay on Criticism. Part ii. Line 15.

:-)

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Pope had such luscious opinons. I like the stage of intoxication, myself. There's something so disillusioning about that stage of learning any subject where you realize how much "unknown" there is, compared to so little known.

[gryphons-lair.livejournal.com]

I like the stage of intoxication, myself.

So do I. The giddy joy of finding a new subject to be fascinated by is a lovely feeling.

The trick, I think, is to enjoy the intoxication without slipping into the mistake of thinking you're an expert, like a drunk thinking they're perfectly safe to drive when they're not. That's the 'dangerous' part of that stage.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

The line between intoxication and inspiration can be a fine one. It's the stage of greatest creativity - but creativity, of course, can be dangerous. It makes us vulnerable, but it's worth it.