“ Every man with self-respect enough to become effective, if only as a machine, has had to account to himself for himself somehow, and to invent a formula of his own for his universe, if the standard formulas failed. ”
Henry Adams, The Education of Henry Adams (1906). copy citation
| Author | Henry Adams |
|---|---|
| Source | The Education of Henry Adams |
| Topic | respect universe |
| Date | 1906 |
| Language | English |
| Reference | |
| Note | |
| Weblink | http://www.gutenberg.org/files/2044/2044-h/2044-h.htm |
Context
“As long as he could whisper, he would go on as he had begun, bluntly refusing to meet his creator with the admission that the creation had taught him nothing except that the square of the hypothenuse of a right-angled triangle might for convenience be taken as equal to something else. Every man with self-respect enough to become effective, if only as a machine, has had to account to himself for himself somehow, and to invent a formula of his own for his universe, if the standard formulas failed. There, whether finished or not, education stopped. The formula, once made, could be but verified.
The effort must begin at once, for time pressed. The old formulas had failed, and a new one had to be made, but, after all, the object was not extravagant or eccentric.”
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