humboldt

Throughout my childhood I was always taken for a slow head, little favored by nature. I still have -only they are fortunately either not noticed or else ascribed to distractions or some other external cause- extremely simple-minded, silly, empty moments which are, furthermore, far too long for the sort they are. On the other hand I cannot say that my mental powers have flagged with the passing years; on the contrary, they have grown and improved. But what was formerly true remains so: my head is by nature slow, scanty in variety of content and not very lively. To this must be added that I impart few outside materials to it. For I have read unbelievably little and still do not enjoy reading; I know very few things with assurance, far fewer than the world thinks, and I have wasted far too much time in mechanical studies which benefitted my mind very little. Thus far the indictments and the faults.
(Wilhelm van Humboldt - Humanist Without Portfolio, p. 403)

Humboldt (1767 - 1835) acayip adam. Yukarıda otobiyografisinden bir parça var. Yirmi küsur dil bilen, dört bir yanda büyükelçilikler yapmış, işte üniversiteler falan kurmuş bir şahsiyet. Ama detay kabilinden şeyler üzerinde yazagelmiş, kasıntı bilgeliklere meyletmemiş bi karakter. Biraz da böyle şaşkın, argue etmeyi beceremeyen, fikirleri pek tutarlı olmadı mı amaan bırak dağınık kalsın diyen, bazen de dönüp dönüp aynı şeyleri yazan bi tip. Hoşuma gitti bu aralar.