Self-Formation, or the History of an Individual Mind, Vol. 1: Intended as a Guide for the Intellect Through Difficulties to Success (Classic Reprint)

Excerpt from Self-Formation, or the History of an Individual Mind, Vol. 1: Intended as a Guide for the Intellect Through Difficulties to Success

In the definition given by me above, I have been anticipated by more than one writer. It has been Ob served, repeatedly, that there are two kinds Of edu cation, one, wherein we are taught by those about us, and another, wherein we teach ourselves; that the former method is the more common, and the lat ter infinitely the more valuable and effective. This is admitted universally, and, to my judgment, it is indeed astonishing that we should have been so busy about the less worthy of these two subjects, while we have neglected almost, if not altogether, the far wor thier one that the universal young mind should have been weighed down to the very dust, by the multitude Of institutional books, while the spirit Of self-instruc tion is left to be stifled under the heap, or, at best, to find its own way up to the surface. One would sup pose, from this neglect, that it is the easiest of all possible uses, as easy as the exercise of the senses.

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