than when they know that their speculation or tinkering leads to no
weighty results. We are more ready to try the untried when what we do is
inconsequential. Hence the remarkable fact that many inventions had their
birth as toys. In the Occident the first machines were mechanical toys,
and such crucial instruments as the telescope and microscope were first
conceived as playthings. Almost all civilizations display a singular
ingenuity in toy making…
“On the whole it seems to be true that the creative periods in history
were buoyant and even frivolous. One thinks of the lightheartedness of
Perclean Athens, the Renaissance, the Elizabethan Age, and the age of the
Enlightenment. Mr. Nehru tells us that in India ‘during every period when
her civilization bloomed, we find an intense joy in life and nature and a
pleasure in the art of living….’
If I ever knew about this amazing man I have forgotten that I did. Read more about him here.
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