Euclid — "Give him threepence, since he must make a gain out of what he learns."
Give him threepence, since he must make a gain out of what he learns.
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Details
Reputed remark to his servant when a student, after learning the first proposition, inquired, 'What do I get by learning these things?'
Date: c. 300 BCE
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Understanding this quote
What it means
When a student asked what he would gain from studying geometry, Euclid sarcastically ordered a servant to pay the student three coins — implying that anyone who learns only for material reward fundamentally misunderstands education. Knowledge is intrinsically valuable. Learning has worth beyond career or profit. Those who cannot appreciate a subject without monetary motivation are missing the entire point of intellectual pursuit.
Relevance to Euclid
Euclid's entire career embodied knowledge pursued for logical perfection, not utility. His Elements — thirteen books of rigorous proofs — was structured for mathematical elegance, not practical engineering. When King Ptolemy I reportedly asked for a shortcut to geometry, Euclid famously replied there is no royal road. This quote mirrors that same conviction: neither wealth nor rank excuses someone from genuine engagement. Euclid measured students solely by their love of truth.
The era
Around 300 BCE in Alexandria, Ptolemy I built the great Library and Mouseion, attracting scholars with royal patronage. Greek philosophical tradition — especially Plato — held that mathematics was the purest form of reasoning, divorced from material concerns. Yet as education became more institutional under Ptolemaic support, students increasingly sought practical returns. Euclid's quip pushed back against this transactional attitude, defending the ideal that geometry trains the mind toward eternal, abstract truth.
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