Mental Muscle

“Nor should the psychologically ambiguous but commonsensical idea of a ‘mental discipline’ confuse anyone. Admittedly, to some, it conjures up the picture of a little muscle behind the ears grown to gigantic proportions having solved a thousand quadratic equations, but the discipline of mathematics is not of that sort at all. It is a habit of mind subjugating the young person’s natural inclination toward intellectual sloth and self-centeredness; it teaches him to delight in making scholarly discoveries that usually attend an organized search. It stands as a mighty bulwark against the heretical and preposterous notion that there can be sound learning without concentration, memory, and logical process.” (Norms and Nobility, p. 144)