“How much can be learnt from history has long been a matter of speculation. Much depends on the capacity of the pupil. There is probably no branch of learning, except economics, in which conjecture plays so large a part. Almost any set of facts can be selected, in a partial fashion, to prove any theory, however, absurd.“
… ‘a “gorge yourself” attitude or an “eat sparsely” attitude’…
“Be careful, however, lest this reading of many authors and books of every sort may tend to make you discursive and unsteady. You must linger among a limited number of master thinkers, and digest their works, if you would derive ideas which shall win firm hold in your mind.
Everywhere means nowhere.”
Lucius Annaeus Seneca – “Moral letters to Lucilius”
“How much can be learnt from history has long been a matter of speculation. Much depends on the capacity of the pupil. There is probably no branch of learning, except economics, in which conjecture plays so large a part. Almost any set of facts can be selected, in a partial fashion, to prove any theory, however, absurd.“
William Joyce in “Twilight Over England”
… ‘a “gorge yourself” attitude or an “eat sparsely” attitude’…
“Be careful, however, lest this reading of many authors and books of every sort may tend to make you discursive and unsteady. You must linger among a limited number of master thinkers, and digest their works, if you would derive ideas which shall win firm hold in your mind.
Everywhere means nowhere.”
Lucius Annaeus Seneca – “Moral letters to Lucilius”
“Letter 2 of 124. On Discursiveness in Reading”
https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Moral_letters_to_Lucilius/Letter_2
Thank you for this!