III. There goes in the world a notion that the scholar should be a rec… — Essays
SAPIR 861
III. There goes in the world a notion that the scholar should be a recluse, a valetudinarian,[40]--as unfit for any handiwork or public labor as a penknife for an axe. The so-called "practical men" sneer at speculative men, as if, because they speculate or _see_, they could do nothing. I have heard it said that the clergy--who are always, more universally than any other class, the scholars of their day--are addressed as women; that the rough, spontaneous conversation of men they do not hear, but only a mincing[41] and diluted speech. They are often virtually disfranchised; and indeed there are advocates for their celibacy. As far as this is true of the studious classes, it is not just and wise. Action is with the scholar subordinate, but it is essential. Without it he is not yet man. Without it thought can never ripen into truth. Whilst the world hangs before the eye as a cloud of beauty
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