[Idiom] Can't understand meaning of phrase: "The learned man aims for more.."

[kirillg]

Hi, everybody!

"The learned man aims for more. But the wise man decreases. And then decreases again".

I read this phrase in the book "Choose yourself". Can't understand what it means. I can't understand what "wise man decreases".

Thank you help as always.

 

[emsr2d2]

Without context, I have no idea what they're talking about. What is the rest of the chapter about? The learned man aims for more what? How can a man decrease? Are you sure the title is "Chose Yourself?"

 

[Tdol]

It might mean that the learned person always aims to learn more, but the wise person focuses their intelligence on a narrower field in order to gain wisdom rather than simply increasing their knowledge.

 

[Cherryaa]

This is a strange excerpt! I assume it's talking about the difference between learning and wisdom. A person can be highly learned but unwise; many very wise people are not well educated.

In this context, the author is saying that highly educated people seek to increase their knowledge (information) while the wise seek to improve their insight. For the author, this seems to mean a wise person removes all extraneous information from her consideration of an issue, then pares it down again until only the core issue remains. I disagree, but that's not the point ;-)