Thursday, July 17, 2014
The Proper Disposition of a Student
Samuel Johnson (1709-1784), Sermon 8, in The Yale Edition of the Works of Samuel Johnson, Vol. 14: Sermons, edd. Jean H. Hagstrum and James Gray (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1978), p. 90:
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Since no man can teach what he has never learned, the value and usefulness of the latter part of life must depend in a great measure upon the proper application of the earlier years; and he that neglects the improvement of his own mind, will never be enabled to instruct others. Light must strike on the body, by which light can be reflected. The disposition therefore, which best befits a young man, about to engage in a life of study, is patience in enquiry; eagerness of knowledge; and willingness to be instructed; a due submission to greater abilities and longer experience; and a ready obedience to those, from whom he is to expect the removal of his ignorance, and the resolution of his doubts.
