“Always be a sophomore.”
While “sophos” in Greek means “wisdom”, “mōros” — in the opposite way — means “idiot” roughly. To combine them together, we get the word specified for the year after freshman camp. Thus, at least in 17th-century Cambridge, the word was reserved for a person who thinks that he/she is erudite enough but still foolish enough from the perspective of a senior.
Yet, it is the mindset of a sophomore that urges us to keep a pulse on lifelong learning, which, at its best, grants us more productivity than a senior expert or any other apprentice: experts may overlook quite a few details because they’re too confident to keep a close eye on their artifacts. Meanwhile, freshmen may brush past a lot of eureka moments due to their lack of profound experience. The key point is: they both disrupt the balance between “known” and “unknown”. Thus, it is not only important to acquire wisdom but also to be modest when facing innovations — just like Steve Jobs’ motto: “Stay hungry, stay foolish.”
Therefore, why should we “Always be a sophomore” ? In other words, does a sophomore possess sufficient capacity to do something? The point is: no matter what a person has achieved, or is capable of achieving, the most significant value lies in the attitude that combines vast knowledge with vast ignorance.