わたしは子供のころから文字による学問〔人文学〕で養われてきた。そして，それによって人生に有益なすべてのことについて明断で確実な知識を獲得できると説き聞かされていたので，これを習得すべくこのうえない強い願望をもっていた。けれども，それを終了すれば学者の列に加えられる習わしとなっている学業の全課程を終えるや，わたしはまったく意見を変えてしまった。というのは，多くの疑いと誤りに悩まされている自分に気がつき，勉学に努めながらもますます自分の無知を知らされたという以外「何も得ることがなかったように思えたからだ。しかも，わたしがいたのはヨーロッパでもつとも有名な学校の一つで，地上のどこかに学識ある人びとがいるとすれば，この学校にこそいるはずだとわたしは思っていた。わたしはそこで他の人が学んでいたことはすべて学んだ。しかも，教えられた学問だけでは満足せず，もっとも秘伝的で稀有とされている学問を扱った本まで，手に入ったものはすべて読破したのだった。そのうえわたしは，ほかの人たちが自分をどんなふうに判断しているかも知っていた。学友のなかにはすでに先生のあとを継ぐよう決まっている者も何人かいたけれど，わたしが学友たちにくらべて劣ると見られているとは思わなかった。最後に，わたしたちの世紀はこれまでのどんな世紀よりも華々しくて，卓越した精神の持ち主に富んでいるように思われた。以上の理由で，他のだれについてもわたしを基にして判断する自由，先に人びとがわたしに期待させたような学説はこの世に一つもないのだと考える自由を，わたしは選びとったのである。
From my childhood, I have been familiar with
letters; and as I was given to believe that
by their help a clear and certain knowledge
of all that is useful in life might be acquired,
I was ardently desirous of instruction. But
as soon as I had finished the entire course
of study, at the close of which it is customary
to be admitted into the order of the learned,
I completely changed my opinion. For I found
myself involved in so many doubts and errors,
that I was convinced I had advanced no farther
in all my attempts at learning, than the
discovery at every turn of my own ignorance.
And yet I was studying in one of the most
celebrated Schools in Europe, in which I
thought there must be learned men, if such
were anywhere to be found. I had been taught
all that others learned there; and not contented
with the sciences actually taught us, I had,
in addition, read all the books that had
fallen into my hands, treating of such branches
as are esteemed the most curious and rare.
I knew the judgment which others had formed
of me; and I did not find that I was considered
inferior to my fellows, although there were
among them some who were already marked out
to fill the places of our instructors. And,
in fine, our age appears to me as flourishing,
and as fertile in powerful minds as any preceding
one. I was thus led to take the liberty of
judging of all other men by myself, and of
concluding that there was no science in existence
that was of such a nature as I had previously
been given to believe.