I once heard Susan Sontag, in conversation with Umberto Eco, define the polymath as one “who is interested in… — Christopher Hitchens

We are all drowning in filth. When I talk to anyone or read the writings of anyone who has any axe to grind, I feel that intellectual honesty and balanced judgment have simply disappeared from the face of the earth. Everyone’s thought is forensic, everyone is simply putting a “case” with deliberate suppression of his opponent’s point of view, and, what is more, with complete insensitiveness to any sufferings except those of himself and his friends.

Thus we learn again that what people set down day to day is of greater value than what they try to synthesize retrospectively into a grand sweep or theory.

One test of un homme sérieux is that it is possible to learn from him even when one radically disagrees with him.