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Intellectually, what is stimulating to a young man is a problem of obvious practical importance. A young man learning economics, for example, ought to hear lectures from individualists and socialists, protectionists and free-traders, inflationists and believers in the gold standard. He ought to be encouraged to read the best books of the various schools, as recommended by those who believe in them. This would teach him to weigh arguments and evidence, to know that no pinion is certainly right, and to judge men by their quality rather than by their consonance with preconceptions.

Intellectually, what is stimulating to a young man is a problem of obvious practical importance. A young man learning economics, for example, ought to hear lectures from individualists and socialists, protectionists and free-traders, inflationists and believers in the gold standard. He ought to be encouraged to read the best books of the various schools, as recommended by those who believe in them. This would teach him to weigh arguments and evidence, to know that no pinion is certainly right, and to judge men by their quality rather than by their consonance with preconceptions.

Approximate author period: c. 1921 AD · modern

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Author or tradition
Bertrand Russell
Attribution: attributed
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Not established
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Historical period
Approximate author period: c. 1921 AD · modern
Approximate author-period anchor from life dates 1872 to 1970; Wikidata Q33760, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q33760 (accessed 2026-10-08). Not a quotation composition date.
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Supplied reference C; CSV row 175132; supplied attribution, independently unverified

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