The thinker is preeminently a man who sees where…

The thinker is preeminently a man who sees where others do not. The novelty of what he says, its character as a sort of revelation, the charm that attache to it, all come from the fact that he sees. He seems to b head and shoulders above the crowd, or to be walking on the ridge-way while others trudge at the bottom. Inde-pendence is the word which describes the moral aspect of this capacity for vision.

— from The Instruments (Awareness/Perception/Expectations)

In the book

The danger is not ignorance — there is nothing wrong with not knowing — the danger is the man who is certain he knows what he does not. Genius itself, William James said, is mostly the faculty of perceiving a thing in an unhabitual way; the thinker is simply the one who sees where others do not. Now perspective, which is simply perception widened — the same scene read from more than one seat. — The Instruments (Awareness/Perception/Expectations)

Also belongs to

Related