Dear António !

How absolutely interesting. 

My answer is, of course, «YES».

But why do you restrict your thoughts to Engineering?

Any good, consciencious Scientist is an "eternal student", one who never ceases to learn, more and more, one whose curiosity is endless, but above all, one who only knows the certainty that noone knows it all with certainty.

Dear António !

How absolutely interesting. 

My answer is, of course, «YES».

But why do you restrict your thoughts to Engineering?

Any good, consciencious Scientist is an "eternal student", one who never ceases to learn, more and more, one whose curiosity is endless, but above all, one who only knows the certainty that noone knows it all with certainty.

Here's a good approach to the concept of the "eternal student":

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/germany/1383562/Leisurely-life-of-eternal-student-is-under-threat.html

Dear António, thank you very much for the invitation

Dear Maria, please note that the original question is not restricted to Engineering.  I do agree very much with the rest of your post.  I would only add that conscientious scientists driven by passion are also able and willing to learn from their own students.

You are always a student, never a master. You have to keep moving forward. - Conrad Hall

I will be ever a seeker, a searcher, a student be. Without this feature there is no or gives only a very slow progress, to help the problems of the society to solve.

Greetings

Michael Lersow

We are life long learners dear @Antonio! Performing education as a duty, means two ways sharing. As @H.E. Lehtihet has stated, "willing to learn" is always present. Academicians are eternal students, yes!

Whereas markets elsewhere are seen to need less state regulation, in higher education they are seen to need more!

http://www.uwl.ac.uk/sites/default/files/Departments/Research/new_vistas/vol1_iss1/new_vistas_vol1_iss1_23April2015.pdf

It pays off  to be an eternal student and life long learner in a fast-paced world where knowledge doubles in matter of months and not decades. As academicians, we are all eternal students. I agree with Michel Legrand:

“The more I live, the more I learn. The more I learn, the more I realize, the less I know.”  ― Michel Legrand

Dear António Manuel Abreu Freire Diogo,

Thanks a lot for invitation. As a young academic member, I should say that I utterly concur with all of previous responds. I should try to learn much more, if I want to be a beneficial member of society.

Dear Barbara. Thanks for your friendly effort in giving an answer a little out of the box, and sincere, even if it may be sometimes a little risky. It looks that this your answer has your personal mark, and reflects a little how you understand the societal issues and how do you live them and you manage them. Unfortunately, irresponsibility and fraud does not seem limited to any professional sector. The advantage of the student profession is that the students have supposedly capacity to learn quickly.

Dear Behrouz: Thanks for your answer. I am not aware of the knowledge evolution rate that you presented. It is the result of your own studies, it is a mere supposition, or is based in any reference?

While we live, we should all be perpetual scholars. We have a long way to go in understanding the universe (singular or plural) and even longer to go as regards practising distributive justice. Paul

Dear All,

To Antonio’s question there is a traditional Hungarian answer (a saying): A good priest learns until death.

Dear Dr Antonio Manuel

 I appreciate  your relevant question and  the answer of the other researchage, i can add this thought :

What is an Engineer? , it's a student who goes through the classical curricula to have certain knowledge in particular area , to go to  aworklpace , find a job and get stuck in the routine.   Unfortunately, this current system, create worker not Scholar. and with time, they lose their curiosity.

what is a Scholar ? ,  it is a Student that take ownership of its pursuit of Knowledge independant of what Job he/she had. and in this case, of course, The Scholar is an eternat student of Nature.

King regards Louadj yacine

Dear Antonio,

I think, a scientist/researcher is (must be) a brainworker.  A brainworker reflects and works. S/he reflects and works personally. S/he has ideas and realize them. A brainworker is not a manager, a boss, an organizer. These positions characterize better the businessman or politician. By the way, working engineers in practice often become bosses and businessmen. However, even academics in practice need continuous learning.

Dear António,

Not only engineers. Every scientist should never stop learning... each one of us actually is an eternal student... this is the main reason of our gathering at the RG.

Dear Antonio:

I agree with Maria that a scientist or professional should be in part an eternal student.

Of course, a young student is necessarily immature. An experienced professional is, among other things, more skilled to learn new things.

Some professionals, however, may reach a point in which they feel that no further effort to acquire new knowledge is necessary  

This is the situation in which the eternal student who still lives within us  can keep our scientific spirit in a state of eternal youth. 

Philadelphia, PA

Dear Diogo,

Yes, definitely. A scholar is one who studies. That makes you a student of the field you study.

H.G. Callaway

Dear RG friends, thank you for your assertive answers and your friendship.

Thanks for your kindness, Dear Lehtihet. Maria never stop to surprise me. Engineering here? I thought about these issues with some colleagues during much time some years ago. Many Civil Engineers, for example, become excellent managers after some years of professional experience. Should some older Professors participate directly in some particularities of the research? Perhaps they should. However, depending of the circumstances, sometimes may be not easy.

I agree with you in practical terms, Dear András, as usually.

As Louadj initiated to analyze, perhaps answering all aspects of this question is not as easy as it seems at the first glance.

Thanks Dear Callaway for the detail considered. One definition of Scholar according to Merriam Webster dictionary: “a person who has studied a subject for a long time and knows a lot about it: an intelligent and well-educated person who knows a particular subject very well”. According to the intended meaning, perhaps the term used could be also “good Teacher/Professor”, or “Academic” (the problem of not being a native English?). However, In Portuguese “Académico” sometimes may have a pejorative meaning (in my opinion, wrongly).

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/scholar

Most definitely, eternal student. Some, of course, do go into management or other fields, but in my opinion, when they stop being eternal students, they also stop being engineers.

Not to imply that managers may not also be engineers. Some are indeed engineers, and eternal students.

Interesting discussion about the term "academic." To me, being an academic means that one's work is not governed by a profit motive, or equivalently, the marketplace. Some even in the US might consider the term pejorative, mais pas moi.

I believe that not only the person who work as an engineer, a researcher, or a scholar but also every person should have a mind of an eternal student because we, humans, live in the world of rapid changes that necessitate us to learn new things every day for better living and working.

I find justification in the fact that an engineer or researcher are perpetual students, as long as your goal is to be updated, and a means to follow training in their profession, which is desirable for professional, is already working in the practice of their profession, and that the study and theoretical and practical update their discipline, is to continue developing and applying their knowledge and skills in the field of reality.

For example: Computer Engineer creating knowledge in the field, designing and developing computer programs (software), improving its technological support (hardware) and finally working, researching, inventing and innovating technology for the benefit of society.

Another example: creating Investigator knowledge, justifying with theoretical basis and scientific evidence performing experiments, prior problem statement, formulation of hypotheses; and finally, testing and verification of hypotheses in the field of research discipline in which it has specialized or expert.

Therefore, the purpose and goals of both the engineer and the researcher, are to create knowledge and perform and innovate technology to benefit society. Par therefore require a solid formation that involves constant preparation, theoretical and practical study of the foundations of their disciplines, in addition to the application of knowledge and technologies into something tangible, objective and beneficial to improve the quality of life of human beings.

What would be so reprehensible in the Engineer and Researcher, it is to pass through life as eternal students, consuming the knowledge created by others and not daring to put in the practice of their profession, much less; not daring to think, invent and create new knowledge, to enrich the scientific and technological scathing of his country in particular and the world in general.

regards

Dr. Jose Luis Garcia Vigil

I agree with everyone's comments 

Whether an engineer, a researcher or a scholar essentially should be an eternal student or not, depends on Time Management. I believe, in many cases, part-time students can mange her/his time better.   For higher education, combining practice with education is more useful.

If you stop learning, you will loose knowledge and abilities. So go on with your studies, experiences and learning.

Thanks for your very good answers, Dears C. Kauser and José Luis. It looks that the term “eternal student” may be associated to a student that never studies, in other words a non-sense. In my opinion, a person that do not study the subjects is not a true student. Of course that an Engineer, a Researcher or a Scholar could never be a false student. However recently in Portugal we had scandals related with the Academic degrees of some political. The complete failure of the Education system, a national shame? Fortunately that it is the exception, not the rule. Naturally that the intended meaning with eternal in the question (that all RG peers in this discussion understood, I suppose) is a person that continues always to study effectively/suitably the subjects/matters along his life beyond (or independently) of the Academic degrees obtained. Additionally, the duty of a Teacher/Professor is also to teach how to study and to motivate the students for studying effectively and for being succeeded.  Surely that perpetual, unending, or interminable, for example, are synonymous of eternal.

I think no. A scholar needs more help as student, but an engineer or a researcher need to see his ideas in practice. "Study alone" is as "scripture alone" in religion, it could be a serious limitation.

Engineering professionals like any other professional who are engaged to solve a problem, cannot avoid probating around in search of a solution- You might call it research. However, the way an engineer thinks or approach a problem is different from other professionals such as scientist.   See this thread:

https://www.researchgate.net/post/How_to_think_like_an_engineer

A scientist stops when she/he understand a phenomenon while undemanding is the starting point for an engineer.  The goal is to puta scientific discovery to use, even if it still has a long way to maturity.  In this sense engineers need to stay abreast of new discoveries.

Since engineers are working on bringing science to day-to-day use, they should be aware of financial constraints and success.  

Perhaps, Brunel (my university’s namesake) is a model engineer.  I am sure every country got one of him.

I fully agree with you, Dear Tatsuo. I thought exactly the same when I wrote the question. Excellent answer from point of view of Engineering, Dear Sirous. In my opinion, all true knowledge is useful for the best execution of any task that requires study and preparation. In Engineering we have the term “best practice” that is continuously improved with time. We have also the term of Engineering of conception that needs normally specific study in each project and innovation, in other words, research and development. Frequently each project is a case with its own particularities. Planning, projecting and executing works of Civil Engineering (a very wide area beyond construction), for example, in normal conditions, is not the same than producing sausages.

Probably studying how to learn to hunt Dragons is not useful or is an absurd. Does it represent a suitable subject for studying in any part of our life inside or outside any Education system?

Thanks Dear Mariano, for having introduced somehow one important spiritual component of the question. Your answer made me remember the thinking of Machiavelli with respect to human intelligence. According to Machiavelli there are three types of intelligence: persons that are able to do things for themselves, persons that are able to do things after having been taught, and a third type that is unable to do the things even after having been taught.

Antonio , let it be natural instinct to decide the career prospect of any eternal student . A student will be following the eternal decision only when he/she follows the internal instinct....he will always be ...what he wants to be in future...

Most professional institutions require documented prof of attendance of some sort of courses as the part of "continuous improvement". 

If the life long learning is what every body is committed to, then why the professional institution feel they have to impose it and police it. 

Dear António Manuel Abreu Freire Diogo,

Scientists always as an intern, all the time necessary to learn, to read, etc.

Regards, Shafagat

YES.

Panta rhei

The Tao which can be defined is not the Tao (=dao).

Moving is living.

Standstill brings death...

Yes, Dear Mahmudova, humbleness endless, in order of trying to learn with everybody. Also, arrogance and self-centeredness normally leads to pseudo-science and mediocrity ... that only may survive or be maintained temporarily due to political positions miserable.

Yes Dear Thomas … "Stop is dying" …

I agree with Thomas and Antonio. We must not stand still. There is so much to learn. For all that, I think there are times when it is helpful to pause. I have in mind the relentless just-in-time world of information technology. Perhaps an engineer can figure out a way to give us users a bit of a rest before re-designing a pc or mac protocol that took us so long to learn. While the evolution of new and necessary discoveries in engineering and in other fields of knowledge is absolutely necessary, it is important not to unlearn or discard past wisdoms. In other word, if it works ...Best wishes. Paul

Dear Antonio,

Here is my response to question you asked me in page 2. There are different estimates of Knowledgeevolution rate( please refer to  links) Buckminster Fuller created the “Knowledge Doubling Curve”; he noticed that until 1900 human knowledge doubled approximately every century. By the end of World War II knowledge was doubling every 25 years. Today things are not as simple as different types of knowledge have different rates of growth. For example, nanotechnology knowledge is doubling every two years and clinical knowledge every 18 months. But on average human knowledge is doubling every 13 months.  According to IBM, the build out of  the “internet of things” will lead to the doubling of knowledge every 12 hours.

http://www.industrytap.com/knowledge-doubling-every-12-months-soon-to-be-every-12-hours/3950

The evolution rates are hard to estimate precisely and are different in different fields of science and engineering. To keep up with this fast pace, scholars and engineers should be up-to-date in theirs fields. For example, civil engineers should learn new codes of practice, softwares, etc.

http://www.industrytap.com/knowledge-doubling-every-12-months-soon-to-be-every-12-hours/3950

http://www.bostoncommons.net/knowledge-doubling/

http://lodestarsolutions.com/keeping-up-with-the-surge-of-information-and-human-knowledge/

Theoretically, I agree with you, Dear Anoop. In practice, we do not live in paradise and many times the hidden mediocrity governs.

Thanks for your response, Dear Behrouz, better late than never. According to what you wrote now, it looks that “The evolution rates are hard to estimate precisely”. Your answer may be pedagogic with respect to three main aspects, at least:  1) It is always important to mention the sources of a given subject, when aplicable; 2) It is always important to know and confront the existing approaches of a given issue; 3) We should only speak of about what we effectively know.

Dear António,

Since I am not an engineer, I dare to take your question to think about the social representations about professional development.

Why think of a "generic" professional development? Is there this linear development (which is a common point of arrival for all in some way) in a profession? If so, is it  valued as positive?

And I risk: beyond professional paths, of various insertions and roles, the variety of tasks that can be performed from the same role, the multiple spaces employment ... maybe some "skills" as curiosity , may be "common" in an specific sociohistoric moment between practioners  and researchers of some discipline.

A pleasure to read the contributions of all !! Thanks!! 

The day you stop learning is the day you become irrelevant, so it is important for those who wish to master something to be open to changes and new developments and to be constantly striving to learn more about the object of their mastery.

A TRUE MASTER IS AN ETERNAL STUDENT.” – MASTER YI,

Dear Silvana, thanks very much for your answer. Your answers are always well-come, please do not stop daring. With respect to professional development, in my opinion, the principle of equality is a golden rule established in the fundamental laws of the countries. Equality of opportunities, without benefit from godfathers, influence from families, or groups of interests, secret or not, should be guaranteed or, at least, valued positively. The laws exist. The problem is the political will of following them or not.

In Portugal the work of a University Professor has four main components: Teaching, Researching, University Management, and Transference of knowledge to the exterior. The most relevant component for evaluation is researching, much more than teaching that is considered a non-essential component in the evaluation (in my opinion, wrongly). All components requires much study and work of preparation.

Let’s remember a classic example of an exponential grow: The simple thickness of a simple sheet of paper, if we could bend it 64 times, i.e., an exponential grow of the thickness, would be much more lengthy than the distance between the earth and the moon.

… According to the increase of the average rate of the knowledge in the text of the link transcribed before, even if the rate mentioned will not grow any more, i.e., if it remains constant from now (supposedly knowledge doubling each 13 months!?), in the near future, say 60 YEARS, for example, we will know 2^ (60*12/13) times more than now, i.e., more than 47 MILLION BILLIONS (American) times more (4.7036 E16 times more). Honestly, I have many doubts about this exponential approach, particularly at this rate … unless that the world ends before? …

Dear all, it is said that we live in an era of information. Perhaps more than ever is important to studying and develop the scientific criticism if we intend to increase effectively knowledge. See the links: “Difference Between Knowledge and Information” and “The Differences between Data, Information and Knowledge”.

A summary in this last one

“Data: Facts, a description of the World

Information: Captured Data and Knowledge

Knowledge: Our personal map/model of the World”

According to the link, facts are always true, information may be true or false. In my opinion, if the map/model is biased or is constructed on weak foundations, particularly lack of a suitable Education or Spiritual component, it will never work properly.

As I learned with an Elder colleague many years ago, it worth always studying.

http://www.differencebetween.net/language/difference-between-knowledge-and-information/

http://www.infogineering.net/data-information-knowledge.htm

Dear António Manuel Abreu Freire Diogo

I think everyone of them and I are like water in the river so it should not stop the flow because if we stopped worsened everything that moved was best for us to stay so we are all students of scienceز

ٌRegards

Raid 

Dear Antonio, Dear RG Fellows,

engineering specializations are now so many that the list of possibilities that you enunciate is partial. In the post-modern, every student/scholar has to deal with complex and interdisciplinary problems. Those may be so specific that every scholar / practitioner should create its own and unique knowledge.

If the market appreciates these specific scientific-cultural skills it makes use of them and pays for them taking account of their rarity. Engineers have a multiface education to correspond adequately to these requirements.

Therefore they must keep current with the continuous updating on all connected fields. This is my experience as Coordinator of Civil Engineering, Architecture and Territory Ph.D. course.

Have a good mid-August!

Dear António, Dear colleagues,

When teaching to students of engineering I use to consider of the utmost importance not only the knowledge and the technique, but also their attitude to command. In fact in many occasions the engineer is like a captain of a ship and directs a group of persons that trust him and refer to him even for their safety, not only for their successfull work.

He konws his own limits, but cannot be afraid and must infuse security in his group. In case of emergency decisions must be taken in real time and their study must follow later. It will be useful in other occasions, to train new colleagues to make exercise, knowing anyhow that no emergency is the same as the previous ones. 

Curiosity is more essential for theoretical scientists as for example mathematicians as I am myself, but even in this case time is not infinite, so there must be a moment in which a decision about the resource obtained is to be taken. Otherwise the risk is that of becoming a clever amateur, what leads to excellent results only in very rare cases.

 Dear Professor Piccinni,

Until 1940's every engineer was the author of his/her own work.  Even 30 years ago if you had a problem you went to your boss for an answer. He/she supposedly knows everything and seen everything. Not any more.

The high reliability and high availability systems requirement for advanced knowledge has led to specialization.  Even reliability engineering became a specialty these days. You don't know as much as your IT person about computer. In your filed of specialty you know far more than your boss. You have been told that  you should learn the Safety engineering discipline, but you can't keep up withe progress. You can only concentrate on your specialization and learn how to talk with other disciplines.  

It is at your peril if you refer to you boss during an emergency. You are far better to talk with the safety manger at your job, who may be the first responded and commandant at the scene. You might ask what is  does you boss do? I don't think he/she knows either. In fact the boss/manger is like the conductor of an orchestra. Gone those days that the manger rose from the rank.  

What is you job as an engineer then? You are there to delver what is needed from your specialty and to be needed you need to keep up with the progress. This is the basis of life long learning, not to be the captain of your ship. But lend a hand to those who knows less than you. So sharpen your pencil. 

We now accept the fact that learning is a lifelong process of keeping abreast of change. And the most pressing task is to teach people how to learn.

 - Peter Drucker

All of the top achievers I know are life-long learners. Looking for new skills, insights, and ideas. If they're not learning, they're not growing and not moving toward excellence.

 - Denis Waitley

“Intellectual growth should commence at birth and cease only at death.”  ― Albert Einstein

Regardless which field or discipline, continuous improvement requires life long learning & contribution - we can consider ourselves never graduated.

RG Colleague Naveen Kalra sent privately an answer to this RG question that I liked specially because of its spiritual component. Under my request, Naveen gave me permission for showing it publically:

"Scientist/Engineer/Doctor really serve the society through innovation/technological development and maintaining the health of the human beings, noble cause, as well these people have to be dedicated and strong integrity towards the nation/community. Materialism make some of them selfish and their outputs becomes primarily financial gains only. The sense of responsibility/dedication have to be built in from the beginning at the teaching institutions and at home. A researcher never retires, if he/she is innovative and dedicated and a researcher who feels it as a routine job could be unproductive even during his/her active job career.

I have some examples of the persons very active evenn at very old age and were working till they left abode.

regards"

Dear RG friends, thanks for your answers aiming new important aspects.

I agree with Marg that most of the problems are multidisciplinary, particularly in Engineering, and about the requirement for continuous update. If we want to succeed in research it is advisable try to learn with those that really know and are aware of the last developments of the specific complementary scientific areas of the problems. Also, human knowledge goes much beyond the books and the published scientific papers. If Universities were only the books there was no need of Professors. There is no substitute for long hours of brain/mental work in any specific area, and those who have crossed those hours are able to explain and share their knowledge with simplicity in a short interval of time.

Thanks Dear Livio for underlining the vital importance that may be in some circumstances for an Engineer (particularly a Civil Engineer) to be brave for assuming decisions in real time. Complementing your answer, I would say that perhaps the quality of such decisions depends also on preparedness and accumulated knowledge from previous experiences and theoretical-practical studies at the several Education/Graduation levels and along the professional life.

“There will come a time when you believe everything is finished. That will be the beginning.” - Louis L’Amour

I agree, Dear Yogesh. Is wonderful when we realize that a full stage or even a simple punctual task is totally complete (with success, naturally). I am thinking about an academic degree of a student or a research project, for example. It is just the starting point of the beginning of the next stage or new enterprise. In a wider context, some sort of renovation like we see in nature with the cycle of life. For the Christians, for example, in a spiritual context, I suppose that it is symbolized/remembered annually with the Easter commemoration.

Simple

YES!!!!!

Thanks for your concise answer, Dear Ross, showing firmness and some intelligence implicit. Please allow me a little challenge to you: With simply yes, you mean separately or simultaneously “is, can, or should be”? And in what circumstances?

A former Portuguese Prime Minister (also former President of Republic) Aníbal Cavaco Silva said once a phrase that became famous: “Deixem-me trabalhar!” i. e., let me work, in English. In the context of this question perhaps it could be said “Let’s study!”?

Who thinks that knows already everything will never learn anything; because has the false illusion of knowing everything, in other words, the ignorant? Can we identify some bad politicians in this class? The less we think we know, lesser ignorant or wiser we can be? The ignorant are not those that do not know a subject, but those that think that know it without really knowing it or that do not want or are not interested in learning or studying?

According to the link below, perhaps Socrates could express himself better when he said: "All I know is that I know nothing"?

http://www.askphilosophers.org/question/506

There is always a connect within

Know-How----- Propositional Knowledge-------Inter-subjective interchange; hence an engineer is a doer ---- researcher ---- teacher

https://peer.asee.org/engineering-knowledge-building-the-bridge-between-research-practice-and-teaching.pdf

My objective is do not leave to learn till the last day of life.

There is always space to learn more. In order to truly master something, one must both gain extensive experience and knowledge on the topic as well as indulge in the discovery of new things related to the topic. The day someone stops learning is the day he/she become irrelevant, so it is important for everyone who wishes to master something to be open to changes and new developments and to be constantly striving to learn more about the object of their expertise mastery.

https://threebeasts.wordpress.com/2015/02/11/commonplace-8-a-true-master-is-an-eternal-student-master-yi-league-of-legends-champion/

Thank you for sharing. From another point of view,

'Life without learning is death.'

-Marcus Tullius Cicero

Regards

"Learning is not a product of schooling but the lifelong attempt to acquire it" - Albert Einstein

What is the difference between 'experiencing' and 'learning'? 

The following question of Dr. Lambrechts, in his latter response to the initial question of Prof. Diogo, is very interesting.

''What is the difference between 'experiencing' and 'learning'?''

''The knowledge alone, is not useful unless we can make connections between what we know. Whether someone uses the terms "knowledge" and "experience" to explain the difference or not, the concept itself is sound. Lots of great writers, artists and scientists have talked about the importance of collecting ideas and bits of knowledge from the world around us, and making connections between those dots to fuel creative thinking and new ideas.''

http://lifehacker.com/the-difference-between-knowledge-and-experience-1516486966

@ Marcel

Learning involves acquiring text-based theoretical knowledge through schooling or from online sources. Experience, on the other hand offers practical knowledge based on real working proficiency. It is a very broad concept that consists of both knowledge and skills. There is a big difference between doing it for real and learning from the book, etc.

 Thanks very much for your answers, Dear Yogesh. I did not want to be unpleasant with the supposed Einstein quote that was posted in the last page, but it does not make much sense. A little nuance makes Perhaps the quote a little more acceptable. According to the link below, Albert Einstein said that: “Wisdom is not the product of schooling but the lifelong attempt to acquire it”. Despite his supposed great imagination, if Einstein or any other colleague of his time had lived in the age of caves, much probably they were more worried with food and with survival than with the law of gravity, or if the earth was in the center of universe or not. As a young student, it seems that Einstein was a little lost. However, he seems an excellent example of lifelong learning and how we can overcome our own difficulties and with much effort and work we can reach levels unimaginable before. In other words, every “Einstein” is probably merely the product of their ages and the sequence of the scientific advances previously achieved.

http://l3d.cs.colorado.edu/courses/AI-96/nlprocessing.pdf

Thanks Dear Marcel for your question of basic philosophy, “What is the difference between 'experiencing' and 'learning'?” I was missing you in this discussion. My excellent teacher of philosophy of the secondary school would have explained you the differences very easily, which shows the importance of schooling and good teachers. However, it is never late to learn basic issues … Better late than never?

Some interesting quotes in the link below.

Oscar Wilde: “I am so clever that sometimes I don't understand a single word of what I am saying.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson: “If we encounter a man of rare intellect, we should ask him what books he reads.”

Albert Einstein: “It is not that I'm so smart. But I stay with the questions much longer.”

… Curious is the following Friedrich Nietzsche quote, independently if we agree or not: “The man of knowledge must be able not only to love his enemies but also to hate his friends.”

https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/intelligence