PEOPLE AND THINGS
By HAROLD NICOLSON
WE are told repeatedly that our scientific knowledge has outstripped our intelligence: it has certainly outstripped our faith: it has also outstripped our capacity for surprise. It would be a sad thing if our gift of astonish- ment (which Chesterton, and even Aristotle, defined as among the major human benefits), were to atrophy. How tragic it would be if we, in an age of miracles, were to lose our sense of the miraculous. " I have learnt nothing from life," wrote Omar Khayyam, " except my own amazement at it." How came it that Fitzgerald (munching apples in contented Suffolk) missed that lovely line? I also should desire to live through such years as may remain to me in that mood of unfailing curiosity, and therefore of unfailing surprise, which has been my guardian since 1886. I also should wish to pass to my urn, as I passed from my cradle, in the glow of constant astonishment. For in truth it is surprise, curiosity and love which rejuvenate the mind.
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