“The best thing for being sad,” replied Merlin, beginning to puff and blow, “is to learn something. That’s the only thing that never fails.
You may grow old and trembling in your anatomies, you may lie awake at night listening to the disorder of your veins, you may miss your only love, you may see the world about you devastated by evil lunatics, or know your honour trampled in the sewers of baser minds.
There is only one thing for it then – to learn.
Learn why the world wags and what wags it.
That is the only thing which the mind can never exhaust, never alienate, never be tortured by, never fear or distrust, and never dream of regretting.
Learning is the only thing for you.
Look what a lot of things there are to learn.”
—T. H. White, The Once and Future King
There’s a lot of truth to that.
March 4, 2020
Very true. Learning something new blows sadness out of the way very quickly. It has to be something positive though, not the sort of something new that’s preceded by scary media headlines.
Do you read newspapers with in-depth reporting? Even though things may be scary, I find that curiosity, trying to understand what’s going on, and comparing it with history keeps my mind engaged.
Mom believes learning is a lifetime practice. There is always something new to discover. That’s a great quote.
Woos, Lightning and Timber
For me in addition to discovering something new, it’s about connecting it to things I’ve already learned, like a gigantic jigsaw puzzle. That’s why I’ve never wanted to be younger than I am — I would have to give up to much. I’m guessing your mom is like that too.
There is always something to learn; and with us, there is always something we are trying to remember. LOL Thankful for google a lot of times.
Yes, google is invaluable for checking things. I love it. 🙂
I love learning new things. It’s why I go to the lecture series down at the senior hall and belong to the travel club.
I’m lazier than you are — I’ve been streaming my lectures from The Great Courses Plus. 😀
what a wonderfully important little piece of writing. thank you for sharing it.
no doubt the secret of staying young! xo
I’m glad you liked it too.
I love the Net, it can have me up to speed on certain things pretty fast – although I usually if it’s a broad subject check a number of sites before I decide what is the best outcome…
A lot of time, I don’t follow either outcome…I just bumble along in my own sweet way…
Then there is for me the “what if…” in my creative making world. I’ll be telling you come Friday what those “what if’s” have been this week. And what happens when you made a snap decision twice on something and it didn’t work out…but the new piece looks okay!
Even if you don’t do things the way they do on the internet, it still generates ideas. And playing around and observing the results is a great way to operate.
Very true. There is an endless amount of things to learn about.
We’re so lucky to have access to it.
I have taken it upon myself this year to read beyond my typical genres of the past many years (running and heroic fantasy) and read more non-fiction, the classics, history, and biographies, which has led to going down rabbit holes that I have ignored for far too long. It doesn’t make some of the things I am learning anymore palatable or enjoyable, but I am learning a lot of the why’s about why some people do some of the things that they do. It also gives me different perspectives to look from when I am reading current events, errr the news and how things are shaking out. I may not agree with things I hear or see but at least I view them differently than I have in the past. Lifelong learning is necessary and when you stop learning, that is when you fade away.
I love history and biographies — they give a lot of insight about human nature. I agree about them giving perspective. I also subscribe to a number of newspapers that do in-depth reporting. They’re invaluable.
Good advice from Merlin. (And Mr. White.)
I’m glad you liked it too.