Mostly proverbs and sayings about learning have a positive meaning. It is fair to say the same thing about the well-known dictum, "It is never too late to learn." We will look at the process of accumulating knowledge from different angles, and subject it to a detailed analysis.
Quintilian
Sometimes a saying is the creativity of the people. This happens when the name of the present author has not saved time. But in this case it is known to whom we owe that treasure, which we do not value at all.
It seems to us the phrase and the phrase that to praise or admire her. And she came to us from ancient times. The question of who said: “It's never too late to learn,” suggests a concrete answer. There was such a sage Quintilian in Ancient Rome, we should say thanks to him.
Little is known about him. Data on the origin varies: some say he was noble, others say no. One thing is clear - his father was an educated man, so he sent him to study in Rome, where Nero reigned at that time.
Yes, we did not say when and where the illustrious teacher of eloquence was born.
Time and place of birth
This event took place in Spain around 35 AD, and the rhetorician completed his earthly journey in about 100 AD (some sources indicate 95).
His personal life was unhappy: he lost his wife when she was still young, then over time lost two sons. Toward the end of his life, there was absolutely one who said: "It is never too late to learn." Sad story. Although public, his social life was more or less successful.
Domitius Afr - Quintilian Mentor
Quintilian went to Rome. There he found a mentor in the person of Domitius Afra, whose manner of holding and behaving in court Quintilian watched and, probably, at first copied.
The teacher of our hero was a classic Cicero speaker. Apparently, under his influence, Quintilian fell in love with the works of Cicero himself.
Further fate and fundamental work
After the death of the mentor, Quintilian came to the home province of the empire to gain experience as a judicial speaker. But he still returned to Rome in 68 as a member of the retinue of Emperor Galba. Although our hero was not particularly close to him. This saved him after the death of Caesar.
The rest is stated in dotted lines. In the year of the four emperors, Quintilian opened his school of eloquence. The highest point in the development of his career was his appointment as consul.
However, he remained famous for centuries due to the fact that he wrote a treatise "On the formation of a speaker" - the most well-preserved and complete course of oratory, with numerous references to literary and historical sources. Perhaps it was there that the proverb “hiding to learn is never too late” hid, which at that time, of course, had not yet become an aphorism.
But it is impossible to establish the exact source, for the remarkable work was partially translated into Russian. At the moment, it is only with pre-revolutionary spelling. It is possible that in Russian the phrase “it’s never too late to learn” came from other languages in which there is a more complete translation of the ancient classic. But the author of the dictum is precisely Quintilian, let the reader not doubt this point.
Modern sayings
Either reality is truly cyclical, or real wisdom does not really rust. But we can say that the saying is extremely modern. Now only the iron is silent about the fact that we need to constantly develop, if we want to achieve something in life.
And imagine us in 30 years, will we quit this habit of growing? It seems unbelievable. In general, when society does not require anything from a person, and he has already raised children, you can relax. That is, to throw all these ideas about constant development out of my head.
In modern society, this has become the idea of a fix. Studying is not always a tedious, difficult, viscous and boring process. You can study with pleasure, the main thing is to answer the question: “Why?”
Cognition as a cure for Alzheimer's
Now many have a problem with motivation. One can well understand the meaning of the proverb “never to learn late”, but never to follow it. If the reader has not yet understood the meaning of the object of study, then we will readily open it now.
The saying comes down to the simple truth that it is not shameful to learn new, unknown things. It doesn’t matter how old a person is. As long as he is alive, he can learn. Moreover, textbooks and scientific boring books are not always meant. Learning is actually learning new things, mastering classes and specialties. The motivational basis for moving forward can be different, ranging from banal idleness and boredom to an urgent need. Sometimes a person learns because he “needs it to work,” and sometimes to load his head.
Some people now rarely raise their faces from a smartphone. They actually live in virtual reality. But from such a life, the human brain is weary of boredom, sad, and ultimately concludes that, in fact, it is not needed and, figuratively speaking, is eliminated.
In practice, the “absence of the brain" manifests itself in the form of different types of dementia, of which Alzheimer's disease is one of the worst cases. Recent studies have shown that electronic gadgets harm not only adults but also children. Kids raised with this kind of "nanny" are less attentive, worse remember material, easier to be distracted.
But back to the adults. We are not saying that reading books is a panacea for senile dementia, but it certainly can delay it. Flickering pictures on the Internet and on the screen drive a person crazy much faster. Books are desirable to read more or less informative, so that there is work for the brain.
Man with multiple degrees.
A common example of a person with several higher educations. In the West, he is respected and, as a rule, is not in poverty, because there higher education is a very expensive thing.
In Russia, education is perceived either as a whim or as a necessity. That is, a person who receives several diplomas is considered either a "nerd" or a "sufferer" who needs a certain qualification to work. But in general, the attitude is such that a person studying for too long is a fugitive from responsibility, almost a burner of life. Although there is, perhaps, more difficult mental work than learning new things. This means that the student and the playboy life are two different types of person. Of course, provided that the student is really studying.
Mary Hobson example
Thanks to the news about this wonderful woman, not only translators know. Although they are inspired by her example. And the story is like that. Englishwoman Mary Hobson began to study Russian when she was 56 years old. She was shocked by the novel of L.N. Tolstoy's “War and Peace”, but at the same time, the woman thought that after all she had read not the original author’s text, but only its translated version. And after that M. Hobson began to study Russian.
At first it was “frivolous,” that is, unsystematic, and then she entered the University of London. Moreover, the Russian language has not only become a useful hobby, which helped to avoid boredom, idleness and dementia. "Great and mighty" was the source of the second wind for the Englishwoman: she translated A.S. Griboedova in English, defended a dissertation on the topic of his work. Indeed, this often happens when a person learns something, at first it seems to him that this is fun, and then a hobby turns into work and becomes the meaning of his life.
Yes, by the way, discussing the saying “it’s never too late to learn” and examples of its application, it is worth saying that cognition is the only way to push the boundaries of what is possible, to reconsider your attitude to yourself, to get out of depression and despondency. If a person is boiled all the time in his own juice, then he is more susceptible to various negative conditions: depression, neurosis, doubt, regret about the past.
Therefore, you need to constantly discover new things, but not for the sake of ephemeral internal development, but for life to be richer and fuller.