"Consciousness is the investigation of one's own spiritual being, knowledge is the investigation of everything that is external. One is always at the expense of the other. The bigger one of them, the smaller the other. Memory and thinking effort are in the same ratio: the greater the one, the less the other. As in a limited container. And because it is one for both, they are almost always mingled together, and the one is taken for the other; the higher the memory, the lower the thinking effort, and vice versa. About a man with a good memory it is said: he is smart, about a person who thinks original, but has a poor memory, it is said: he is stupid!
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Author
Leo TolstoyAll Translations
All Translations
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Consciousness is the investigation of one's own spiritual being, knowledge is the investigation of everything that is external. One is always at the expense of the other. The bigger one of them, the smaller the other. Memory and thinking effort are in the same ratio: the greater the one, the less the other. As in a limited container. And because it is one for both, they are almost always mingled together, and the one is taken for the other; the higher the memory, the lower the thinking effort, and vice versa. About a man with a good memory it is said: he is smart, about a person who thinks original, but has a poor memory, it is said: he is stupid!
""Conștiința e cercetarea propriei ființe spirituale, cunoașterea e cercetarea a tot ce este exterior. Una este întotdeauna în detrimentul celeilalte. Cu cât e mai mare una dintre ele, cu atat e mai mică cealalta. Memoria și efortul de gândire se află în același raport: cu cât e mai mare una, cu atât e mai mică cealalta. Ca într-un recipient limitat. Și fiindcă este unul singur pentru amândouă, aproape mereu se amestecă între ele, iar una e luată drept cealaltă; cu cât e mai mare memoria, cu atât e mai mic efortul de gândire, și invers. Despre un om cu memorie buna se spune: e destept, despre unui care gandește original, dar are memorie slabă, se spune: e prost!"