A few words to the wise
I gladly come back to the theme of the absurdity of our education: its end has not been to make us good and wise, but learned. And it has succeeded. It has not taught us to seek virtue and to embrace wisdom: it has impressed upon us their derivation and their etymology. We readily enquire, “Does he know Greek or Latin?” “Can he write poetry or prose?” But what matters most is what we put last: “Has he become better and wiser?”
Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592).
