 Love Learning, Love Life On talking about learning, Michel De Montaigne remarks: Truly, learning is a most useful accomplishment and a great one. Those who despise it give ample proof of their animal-stupidity. In his well-known rhymed essay Epitaph of a Shabby Room, Yuxi Liu wrote: visitors are erudite who come to discuss and argue, acquaintances are literate who pay frequent visit. Learning was the bridge between the writer and his friends, playing a crucial role in the friendship and social contact. It’s because learning can make us wise and contented that it is important. In the old days, many men who were rich in learning were the very ones who spent a great deal of money and trouble seeking the acquaintance of the learned, welcoming them into his house as VIP. Why? The more a man is learned, the more he feels that he doesn’t know. A popular comparison is made like this: what you know is a circle, outside which is what you don’t know. You will find when the circle is bigger, you come to realize that what you don’t know is expanded. So you are surely confirmed that a man who is learned is the very person who is so humble. No wonder a philosopher like Kant would invite erudite of the time, almost every night, to his house to chat and argue. On the one hand, he liked the company, on the other hand, he desired to learn more. In discussion and argument with these people, he kept collecting their saying and reasoning to sharpen his mind. So respectable! A family, a region, or a state will be in danger if in it ignorance is more popular than wisdom; folly is at the top of the game while intelligence is cast away. A prosperous family, region, or state is a place where learning is the most popular practice and a learned man is truly respected and even worshipped. The case is usually like this: a really learned man is not cherished, but a half learned man is lifted up. Why? The reasons may be complicated and it would be lengthy list if they were listed. In this article, to discuss the question is not planned. But it has to be said that half learning is a dangerous thing. This is in fact a line from Pope. We can be safe to say a man loves learning who loves life. |
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