Why we devote ourselves to knowledge, the arts and the sciences

1  Caspar Heineman Tumblr blog, Nov 4 2012, https://angstravaganza.tumblr.com/post/34991232708/i-wasnt-always-smart-i-was-actually-very-stupid

“I wasn’t always smart, I was actually very stupid in school… [T]here was a boy who was very attractive who was even stupider than I was. And in order to ingratiate myself with this boy who was very beautiful, I began to do his homework for him – and that’s how I became smart, I had to do all this work to just keep ahead of him a little bit, in order to help him. In a sense, all the rest of my life I’ve been trying to do intellectual things that would attract beautiful boys.”

— Michel Foucault, 1983


2  https://quotefancy.com/quote/1492615/Leopold-von-Sacher-Masoch-Why-become-well-versed-in-science-and-the-arts-if-not-to

“Why become well-versed in science and the arts if not to impress a lovely little woman?”

— Leopold von Sacher-Masoch