A Vulgar Mechanick can practice what he has been taught or seen done, but if he is in an error he knows not how to find it out and correct it, and if you put him out of his road he is at a stand. Whereas he that is able to reason nimbly and judiciously about figure, force, and motion, is never at rest till he gets over every rub. (from a letter dated 25 May, 1694)
Sir Isaac Newton, Roger Cotes (1850). “Correspondence of Sir Isaac Newton and Professor Cotes: Including Letters of Other Eminent Men Now First Published from the Originals in the Library of Trinity College, Cambridge; Together with an Appendix, Containing Other Unpublished Letters and Papers by Newton; with Notes, Synoptical View of the Philosopher's Life, and a Variety of Details Illustrative of His History”, p.284
