Our advice is that every man should remain in the path he has struck out for himself, and refuse to be overawed by authority, hampered by prevalent opinion, or carried away by fashion. 538 The various branches of knowledge always tend as a whole to stray away from life, and return thither only by a roundabout way. 539 For they are, in truth, text-books of life: they gather outer and inner experiences into a general and connected whole. 540 An important fact, an ingenious _aperçu_, occupies a very great number of men, at first only to make acquaintance with it; then to understand it; and afterwards to work it out and carry it further. 541 On the appearance of anything new the mass of people ask: What is the use of it? And they are not wrong. For it is only through the use of anything that they can perceive its value. 542 The truly wise ask what the thing is in itself and in relation to other things, and do not trouble themselves about the use of it,--in other words, about the way in which it may be applied to the necessities of existence and what is already known. This will soon be discovered by minds of a very different order--minds that feel the joy of living, and are keen, adroit, and practical. 543 Every investigator must before all things look upon himself as one who is summoned to serve on a jury. He has only to consider how far the statement of the case is complete and clearly set forth by the evidence. Then he draws his conclusion and gives his vote, whether it be that his opinion coincides with that of the foreman or not. 544 And in acting thus he remains equally at ease whether the majority agree with him or he finds himself in a minority. For he has done what he could: he has expressed his convictions; and he is not master of the minds or hearts of others. 545 In the world of science, however, these sentiments have never been of much account. There everything depends on making opinion prevail and dominate; few men are really independent; the majority draws the individual after it. 546 The history of philosophy, of science, of religion, all shows that opinions spread in masses, but that that always comes to the front which is more easily grasped, that is to say, is most suited and agreeable to the human mind in its ordinary condition. Nay, he who has practised self-culture in the higher sense may always reckon upon meeting an adverse majority. 547 There is much that is true which does not admit of being calculated; just as there are a great many things that cannot be brought to the test of a decisive experiment. 548 It is just for this that man stands so high, that what could not otherwise be brought to light should be brought to light in him.