True Libertie Is lost, which alwayes with right Reason dwells 

Twinn'd, and from her hath no dividual being: 

Reason in man obscur'd, or not obeyd, 

Immediately inordinate desires

And upstart Passions catch the Government

From Reason, and to servitude reduce Man till then free. 

Therefore since hee permits 

Within himself unworthie Powers to reign

Over free Reason, God in Judgement just

Subjects him from without to violent Lords;   

Who oft as undeservedly enthrall His outward freedom:

Tyrannie must be,   

Though to the Tyrant thereby no excuse.

 

John Milton, Paradise Lost

 

 

Sherlock on knowledge

I consider that a man’s brain originally is like a little empty attic, and you have to stock it with such furniture as you choose. A fool takes in all the lumber of every sort that he comes across, so that the knowledge which might be useful to him gets crowded out, or at best is jumbled up with a lot of other things so that he has a difficulty in laying his hands upon it. Now the skillful workman is very careful indeed as to what he takes into his brain-attic. He will have nothing but the tools which may help him in doing his work, but of these he has a large assortment, and all in the most perfect order. It is a mistake to think that that little room has elastic walls and can distend to any extent. Depend upon it there comes a time when for every addition of knowledge you forget something that you knew before. It is of the highest importance, therefore, not to have useless facts elbowing out the useful ones.

It is a capital mistake to theorize before you have all the evidence. It biases the judgment.

Sherlock Holmes, by Arthur Conan Doyle in A Study in Scarlet