Undigested Food

Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860), Parerga and Paralipomena, Vol. II, Chapter 21, § 247 (tr. Adrian Del Caro and Christopher Janaway): For most scholars by far their pursuit of knowledge is a means, not an end; for this reason they will never achieve anything great in it, because what is required here is that the individual who practises in a field of knowledge regard it as an end and everything else, even his very existence, merely as a means. For everything that someone practises not for its own sake he practises only halfway, and true excellence in works of any kind can only be attained by that which is produced for its own sake and not as a means to further ends. Likewise only those will rise to the level of new and great insights who have the achievement of their own knowledge as the immediate object of their studies, and are unconcerned about anyone else's. But scholars as a rule study for the purpose of being able to teach and write, which is why their head resembles a stomach…