The parents of the young Arthur Schopenhauer strongly encouraged him to keep a journal. It wasn’t that they wanted him to share his observations, but rather they saw it as a tool through which their son could improve his writing skills and develop good and clear handwriting.
I also came across an interesting quote from Parmenides. Socrates was advised to practice more in common reasoning before tackling anything substantial.
“[…] You prematurely, without properly exercising yourself, undertake to define what beauty, justice, goodness, and any other idea are. I noticed this the other day when I listened to your conversation here with Aristotle. Your zeal for reasoning, rest assured, is wonderful and divinely inspired, but while you’re still young, try to practice more in what the crowd considers and calls useless chatter: otherwise, the truth will slip away from you.”
No matter who you look at, all these people in one way or another kept journals, recorded observations and thoughts. Just for themselves. Even Dostoevsky:
So, here’s the kind of writing I’ve involved myself with. My situation is extremely uncertain. But I will also talk to myself and for my own pleasure in the form of this journal, and let whatever comes of it. What will I talk about? About everything that strikes me or makes me think. If I find a reader and, God forbid, an opponent, I understand that one must be able to converse and know with whom and how to speak. I will try to learn this, because in our literature, this is the most difficult thing.
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