Curiosity

Use in the book

Examining how plants grow enriches the enjoyment of fruit; curiosity here extends pleasure rather than simply collecting facts. The historical-writing note turns against unrestricted disclosure driven less by truth than by wanting to know everything. In reading Tacitus, curiosity carries the mind onward while attention holds it to the density of expression, producing fatigue. Curiosity can nevertheless be described as a divine gift leading to knowledge and contemplation of God, distinguished from love’s desire for presence. The soul’s subtle curiosity also requires nourishment, although it predominates differently in different people. The late maxim ranks peace of soul above curiosity and the other ambitions without retrospectively erasing these positive uses.

Places to read

1. I, p. 58, entry 5, ¶1Observation through curiosity enriches delight in fruit.
2. I, p. 138, entry 1, ¶1Insatiable curiosity can loosen the ethics of historical disclosure.
3. I, p. 154, entry 6, ¶1Curiosity and attention pull the reader in different directions.
4. I, p. 169, entry 5, ¶1Curiosity can be a gift directed toward divine wisdom.
5. I, p. 210, entry 7, ¶1A subtle inward curiosity needs nourishment.
6. II, p. 891, entry 7, ¶1Peace of soul is ranked above curiosity and ambition.

Translation in this edition

The English translation retains curiosity. In the nourishment passage, it is read as curiosity, although the delicate part of the soul is also a possible antecedent. The comparative “less out of love for truth” is not turned into a claim that every curious reader lacks love of truth.