The mysterious Enoch Root meets 8-year-old Benjamin Franklin, Boston, 1713: "Do I look like a schoolmaster to you?" "No, but you talk like one." "You know something of schoolmasters, do you?"" Yes, sir, " the boy says, faltering a bit as he sees the jaws of the trap swinging toward his leg. "Yet here it is the middle of Monday–" "The place was empty 'cause of the Hanging. I didn't want to stay and–" "And what?" "Get more ahead of the others than I was already." "If you are ahead, the correct thing is to get used to it–not to make yourself into an imbecile. Come, you belong in school. .Neal Stephenson
About This Quote
The boy had been so clever at his age that he could outwit the world. But when he grew up, he lost the power of wit and became a man who could not understand life.
Source: Quicksilver
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