4–10 October 1824

It is a striking feature in our condition that we so hardly arrive at truth. . . . The final cause of this is, no doubt, found in the doctrine that we were not sent into this world for the discov- ery of truth, but for the education of our minds, and our faculties are best exercised by doubts, not by facts. The immediate consequence of this arrangement, like all other parts of human na- ture, has its admixture of evil. It is productive of that scepticism which throughout the world combats the advancement of truth. What you say is probable, says the Pyrrhonian, but the interval is always infinite between the highest probability and certainty. I will not renounce my old opinion for what may be an error. Prove it true, and I will be converted.