Studiousness

Studiousness is the virtue which disposes a person to apply his mind for the purpose of acquiring and extending knowledge.

The virtue of studiousness is a part of the virtue of temperance. For it is the function of temperance to moderate appetite, to prevent excess, in the use of material goods.In reference to the spiritual appetite for knowledge, studiousnesshas this temperance-function of moderating desire and preventing excess. The tie-up of studiousness with temperance is effected through the virtue of modesty (See above, q. 160).