Isaac Newton

Isaac Newton (1642-1727) is known for his contributions in the fields of mathematics and physics. However, I also admire Newton for his viewpoint on knowledge. Newton had once said that "I do not know what I may appear to the world, but to myself I seem to have been only like a boy playing on the sea-shore, and diverting myself in now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me."

His another viewpoint on knowledge is reflected in the quotation by him as follows: "If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants". Here Newton was borrowing the idea from Bernard of Charters (died in about 1130AD) who used to say that we were like dwarfs on the shoulders of giants, so that we could see more than they, and things at a greater distance, not by virtue of any sharpness of sight on our part, or any physical distinction, but because we were carried high and raised up by their giant size.

On the basis of their idea, I create my own analogy. I compare books and knowledge to the giant. Also I always compare those people who love reading books to equip themselves with those who seldom or never read books. To my mind, books and knowledge is the giant in the form of tools. In general it is always the case that, with the help of tools, people can do things better and faster than those who do it with bare hands. In the ancient time, with the help of tools, human could excel animals in survival, and eventually stood at the top of the food chain. By the same token, in modern time in the concrete jungle, similar law of survival may exit, I think.

Reference:
1. Bill Swainson ed. Encarta Book of Quotations. NY: St. Martin' Press, 2000.
2. The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations- Third Edition. Oxford University Press,1980.