Aging & Wisdom Quote by Frederick II

Frederick II flatters the mind the way a king flatters a court: by making curiosity feel like virtue and obedience feel like vice. Calling discovery the “greatest and noblest pleasure” doesn’t just praise science; it crowns it. Pleasure is doing a lot of work here. This is Enlightenment rhetoric that seduces rather than scolds, recasting the life of the intellect as a refined indulgence worthy of high status. Frederick isn’t begging subjects to think; he’s redefining what an elite person ought to enjoy.

Then comes the sharper move: “the next is to shake off old prejudices.” The phrase is both self-congratulatory and strategic. “Old” makes prejudice sound antique, an inheritance that can be discarded like unfashionable clothing. “Shake off” implies effort but also a briskness, as if superstition and sectarianism are mere dust on a rational sleeve. Underneath is a political argument: modern states need modern minds. A Prussian ruler trying to centralize authority and professionalize governance has incentives to weaken the prestige of traditional gatekeepers - provincial nobles, clergy, inherited dogma - without openly declaring war on them.

Context matters: Frederick styled himself as an “enlightened despot,” corresponding with Voltaire while building a disciplined military machine. The subtext is that reason can be officially sponsored, even weaponized: truth-seeking as both cultural capital and administrative tool. It’s a vision of progress that is sincere, but also carefully managed - liberty for ideas, on terms set by the crown.