The constant streaming in of the thoughts of others must confine and suppress our own; and indeed in the long run paralyze the power of thought . . . . The inclination of most scholars is a kind of fuga vacui103 from the poverty of their own minds, which forcibly draws in the thoughts of others . . . . It is dangerous to read about a subject before we have thought about it ourselves . . . . When we read, another person thinks for us; we merely repeat his mental process . . . . So it comes about that if anyone spends almost the whole day in reading, . . . he gradually loses the capacity for
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