Quote #53

“I find that a great part of the information I have was acquired by looking up something and finding something else on the way.”
– Franklin Pierce Adams

To be honest, I had completely forgotten that I had this quote in my collection. I found it while browsing through looking for a quote to write about. I found so many quotes I wanted to write about that I couldn’t settle on just one. Several quotes by Carl Jung stood out, along with many others. Pretty soon I was looking at the clock wondering how many I could write about tonight before falling asleep at the computer.

I decided that I needed to pick just one (it’s getting pretty late). After finding so many great quotes this one stood out because of all the nice quotes I had re-discovered while looking for something to write about. I suppose this selection is a little meta.

I really like this quote for a couple reasons though.

First, this quote 100% applies to me, word for word.

Growing up we had an older set of encyclopedias in my house. My younger brother and I mostly used the heaviest books from the set to hold sheets on the table for under-the-table forts and to weigh down the side tabs of Hot-Wheels tracks. Occasionally, however, my father would refer me to the books look something up that I asked about. What I liked best about those times cracking open the encyclopedia was all of the stuff that I wasn’t looking for that caught my eye. I’d often forget what I was looking up to begin with, distracted by something that I didn’t even know I was interested in. More than a few Sunday afternoons were spent following my Father’s example, pulling out one of the many volumes and reading random entries while sprawled out on the floor. Even today I frequently get lost in a dizzying array of browser tabs full of Wikipedia articles and the source articles they link to. I become engrossed in completely random learning sessions, often covering several entirely different subjects, sometimes for hours at a time.

Secondly, I think this is a fantastic way to live. I pity anyone with such razor-sharp focus and rigorous discipline that they never allow themselves to wander their way through the process of looking up some bit of knowledge. The things we discover along the way will often make us who we are much more so than the things we originally set out to learn.

My main thoughts on this quote are these: learning is wonderful and it’s usually the journey, not the destination, that we should cherish.