Volume 6 · The Unfinished Syllabus · Essay 67

Digit Span Test

Digit Span Test is a measuring stick. Use it on yourself before you use it on others; the readings are more honest that way.

No single score defines a person, a team, or a year. But a score honestly taken is a mirror, and mirrors, however unkind, are cheaper than self-deception.

It is worth keeping in your pocket not because it is always right, but because it is always available. A tool you carry beats a perfect tool you left at home.

A good librarian is a quiet revolutionary. She knows that a child with a borrowing card and a long afternoon is more dangerous to ignorance than any syllabus.

Learning is the one wealth that survives every partition of fortune. Carry it lightly. Ideas, like umbrellas, are useful only when actually opened.