If I had read as much as other men I would have known no more than they.
Interpretation
Reading widely allows for personal growth and unique insights beyond general knowledge.
In this quote, Thomas Hobbes emphasizes the importance of independent thought and critical analysis in one's pursuit of knowledge. He suggests that simply following the conventional path of reading what others do will not lead to greater understanding, but rather it is through personal exploration and questioning that true wisdom is achieved.
In practice
During a lecture on critical thinking, a professor cites this quote to encourage students to think for themselves.
Baptism is the sacrament of allegiance of them that are to be received into the Kingdom of God, that is to say, into Eternal life, that is to say, to Remission of Sin. For as Eternal life was lost by the committing, so it is recovered by the remitting of men's sins.
Force and fraud are in war the two cardinal virtues.
For it is not the shape, but their use, that makes them angels.
For to accuse requires less eloquence, such is man's nature, than to excuse; and condemnation, than absolution, more resembles justice.
Scientia potentia est, sed parva; quia scientia egregia rara est, nec proinde apparens nisi paucissimis, et in paucis rebus. Scientiae enim ea natura est, ut esse intelligi non possit, nisi ab illis qui sunt scientia praediti.
The end of knowledge is power ... the scope of all speculation is the performing of some action or thing to be done.
I know now that what makes a fool is an inability to take even his own good advice.
I think someday you're going to be a great writer," he said. "But" he added maliciously, "first you'll have to suffer a bit. I mean really suffer, because you don't know what the word means yet. You only think you've suffered. You've got to fall in love first.
Eventually we grow weary of seeking treasures outside _x000D_ ourselves and we begin to look within. There we discover _x000D_ that the gold we sought, we already are.
If a person studies too much and exhausts his reflective powers, he will be confused, and will not be able to apprehend even that which had been within the power of his apprehension. For the powers of the body are all alike in this respect.
The chief beauty about time is that you cannot waste it in advance. The next year, the next day, the next hour are lying ready for you, as perfect, as unspoiled, as if you had never wasted or misapplied a single moment in all your life. You can turn over a new leaf every hour if you choose.
The hard discipline, with the exception of one great good point, is fraught with evil. The good point is that men can do one or two things well with very little effort, having practiced them every day through generations.
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