Althouse: "Beware of the man who works hard to learn something, learns it, and finds himself no wiser than before..."

November 21, 2010

"Beware of the man who works hard to learn something, learns it, and finds himself no wiser than before..."

"... He is full of murderous resentment of people who are ignorant without having come by their ignorance the hard way."

10 comments:

Anonymous said...: Ah, Kurt Vonnegut!

I used to think he was so clever.

Haven't even thought about him for decades. And, now he doesn't seem so clever.

I like him better as Kilgore Trout.; 11/21/10, 10:25 AM
TosaGuy said...: I am going to respond with a several standard sayings.

Good things come to those who wait.

Luck is where preparation and opportunity meet.

You never know in the future when something you do will pay off. Luck generally doesn't happen if you hadn't done something in the past to set yourself up for some good fortune. Effort is rarely wasted amoung those who maintain a positive outlook and who want to learn simply for the sake of learning.; 11/21/10, 10:27 AM
Unknown said...: Vonnegut strikes me as a guy who wanted to be the next Mark Twain and missed it by that much.; 11/21/10, 10:48 AM
lemondog said...: I doubt that sense of 'The more I learn the less I know' is particularly unique.; 11/21/10, 10:49 AM
The Crack Emcee said...: ST,

Ah, Kurt Vonnegut!

I used to think he was so clever.

Were you about 11, too?; 11/21/10, 10:53 AM
Anonymous said...: Were you about 11, too?

Nah. 18.; 11/21/10, 11:03 AM
Fred Drinkwater said...: @TosaGuy:
Years ago my son was interviewed by a local TV station after a junior golf tournament:
"The more you practice the more luck you have."; 11/21/10, 11:20 AM
Wince said...: I took Althouse's selection of this quote as an old Vonnegut observation applied the evolving perceptions about the "credentialed, cognitive elite" in government, academia, finance and media.; 11/21/10, 1:31 PM
William said...: It doesn't matter if you feel that you have outgrown him. He is one of those writers who become a part of you.; 11/21/10, 8:02 PM
Penny said...: "It doesn't matter if you feel that you have outgrown him. He is one of those writers who become a part of you."

He was never a part of me, but he was for so many of my friends that, to this day, some forty years later, when his name comes up? I walk around like there's bubblegum stuck to the bottom of my shoes.; 11/21/10, 8:58 PM