Behind William Hazlitt's eloquence there was certainly vision, and something like courage. For learning does imply, like making, a certain risk—or did. Besides springs and sun, the lurking adder, and there is something ambiguous and awesome about “the shadow of angelic wings.” A certain resolve is thus required if we are to step, in our imaginings, into Einstein's elevator, or test the possibility that we have been living in Plato's cave. It is symptomatic of our times that we feel we must repeat this, even a little insistently and dramatically—that thinking and learning and making, the pursuit of culture, is serious, dangerous business. I am inclined to say that heroism is involved here too, but recognizing that that may sound merely romantic, I settle for the moment on risk.