Character and Learning
Intellectual learning is to be respected, but it should never be confused with good character.
1871
Intellectual learning is to be respected, but it should never be confused with good character.
1871
Samuel Smiles devoted an entire volume to the subject of character, appreciating that an education is only as good as the moral principles with which it is applied.
IN the New Testament, appeals are constantly made to the heart of man and to "the spirit we are of," whilst allusions to the intellect are of very rare occurrence.
‘A handful of good life,’ says George Herbert,* ‘is worth a bushel of learning.’ Not that learning is to be despised, but that it must be allied to goodness.
Intellectual capacity is sometimes found associated with the meanest moral character, with abject servility to those in high places, and arrogance to those of low estate.
‘You insist,’ wrote Perthes to a friend,** ‘on respect for learned men. I say, Amen! But, at the same time, don’t forget that largeness of mind, depth of thought, appreciation of the lofty, experience of the world, delicacy of manner, tact and energy in action, love of truth, honesty, and amiability — that all these may be wanting in a man who may yet be very learned.’
George Herbert (1593-1633) was a Welshman with a brilliant career in politics, poetry and the University before him, who decided to become a country vicar.
** Friedrich Christoph Perthes (1772-1843) was a German publisher and a staunch opponent of Napoleon Bonaparte.
1. What is the author aiming to achieve in writing this?
2. Note any words, devices or turns of phrase that strike you. How do they help the author communicate his ideas more effectively?
3. What impression does this passage make on you? How might you put that impression into words?
Based on The English Critic (1939) by NL Clay, drawing on The New Criticism: A Lecture Delivered at Columbia University, March 9, 1910, by J. E. Spingarn, Professor of Comparative Literature in Columbia University, USA.
Suggest answers to this question. See if you can limit one answer to exactly seven words.
In Smiles’s opinion, how do intellectuals tend to treat people in positions of power?
Express the ideas below in a single sentence, using different words as much as possible. Do not be satisfied with the first answer you think of; think of several, and choose the best.
The Bible appeals to the heart of man. Allusions to the intellect are rare.