As for what motivated me, it is quite simple; I would hope that in the eyes of some people it might be sufficient in itself. It was curiosity – the only kind of curiosity, in any case, that is worth acting upon with a degree of obstinacy: not the curiosity that seeks to assimilate what it is proper for one to know, but that which enables one to get free of oneself. After all, what would be the value of the passion for knowledge if it resulted only in a certain amount of knowledgeableness and not, in one way or another and to the extent possible, in the knower’s straying afield of himself? There are times in life when the question of knowing if one can think differently than one thinks, and perceive differently than one sees, is absolutely necessary if one is to go on looking and reflecting at all.

M. Foucault, The use of pleasure: The history of sexuality, Vol. 2. New York: Vintage Books, 1990, p. 8

If you want to push science forward as quickly as possible you will succeed in destroying it as quickly as possible; just as a hen perishes if it is compelled to lay eggs too quickly. Science has certainly been pushed forward at an astonishing speed over the last decades: but just look at the men of learning, the exhausted hens. They are in truth not ‘harmonious’ natures; they can only cackle more than ever because they lay eggs more often: though the eggs to be sure, have got smaller and smaller (…).

F. Nietzsche, Untimely meditations. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003, p. 99