If the educational time at our disposition were sufficient, there
are one or two things I would add to those I have just now called the
essentials; and perhaps you will be surprised to hear, though I hope you
will not, that I should add, not more science, but one, or, if possible,
two languages. The knowledge of some other language than one's own is,
in fact, of singular intellectual value. Many of the faults and mistakes
of the ancient philosophers are traceable to the fact that they knew
no language but their own, and were often led into confusing the symbol
with the thought which it embodied. I think it is Locke [84] who says
that one-half of the mistakes of philosophers have arisen from questions
about words; and one of the safest ways of delivering yourself from the
bondage of words is, to know how ideas look in words to which you are
not accustomed. That is one reason for the study of language; another
reason is, that it opens new fields in art and in science. Another is
the practical value of such knowledge; and yet another is this, that
if your languages are properly chosen, from the time of learning the
additional languages you will know your own language better than ever
you did. So, I say, if the time given to education permits, add Latin
and German. Latin, because it is the key to nearly one-half of English
and to all the Romance languages; and German, because it is the key to
almost all the remainder of English, and helps you to understand a
race from whom most of us have sprung, and who have a character and
a literature of a fateful force in the history of the world, such as
probably has been allotted to those of no other people, except the Jews,
the Greeks, and ourselves.
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