Yes, he replied.

And philosophy is the acquisition of knowledge?

Yes, he said.

And what knowledge ought we to acquire? May we not answer with absolute
truth--A knowledge which will do us good?

Certainly, he said.

And should we be any the better if we went about having a knowledge of the
places where most gold was hidden in the earth?

Perhaps we should, he said.

But have we not already proved, I said, that we should be none the better
off, even if without trouble and digging all the gold which there is in the
earth were ours? And if we knew how to convert stones into gold, the
knowledge would be of no value to us, unless we also knew how to use the
gold? Do you not remember? I said.

I quite remember, he said.

Nor would any other knowledge, whether of money-making, or of medicine, or
of any other art which knows only how to make a thing, and not to use it
when made, be of any good to us. Am I not right?

He agreed.