Balancing Life and Learning

So what is the worth of having many degrees and letters after your name, if you can't enjoy life and experience what you have studied.

The secret is to have a balance between activity and study. Life is not a spectator sport, Historians would have nothing worthwhile to study if other hadn't got out and lived the lives that make up our history.

I found an interesting quote from de Montaigne a French Renaissance Writer:

A young woman, the foremost of our Princesses , said to me of a particular man that, by welcoming in as he did the brains of others, so powerful and so numerous, his own brain was forced to squeeze up close, crouch down and contract in order to make room for their all!"

THose of you who have done an advanced degree will know what he is talking about.

So my advice to you, is to study hard, but make time to taste of life's sweet enjoyments. Also you need to have your own thoughts not just the regurgitated thoughts of others.

I did a BA in Humanities for fun after I had completed an advanced degree in another field, where you were expected to quote the work of others widely. When I did my first freshman assignment in Greek History I followed the method I was used too, and the References section had many sources. I will never forget the comment I got back from the lecturer, he wrote, "You have told me what Smith thinks, what Jones thinks, what Ventkachalan and Green say, but what do YOU think?" I was bowled over and I have been a fan of the humanities and independent thought ever since.

Viva Humanitas