Cicero, Locke, and Bacon

The Thought of the Week (and you didn't even know that there was a thought of the week!) Ralph Waldo Emerson's speech "The American Scholar". I read this for my scholars group and particularly enjoyed the following quote:

"Meek young men grow up in libraries, believing it their duty to accept the views which Cicero, which Locke, which Bacon, have given; forgetful that Cicero, Locke, and Bacon were only young men in libraries when they wrote these books."