A scholar must momentarily set aside the individual ego when confronting the works of masters. Such humility encourages the thorough mastery of others' ideas before the scholar affixes his personal stamp upon them. A scholar must relish the discipline of his endeavor. In the following excerpt from Science and The Modern World, Alfred North Whitehead discusses discipline within the context of great art. His words can be applied just as easily to the idea of scholarship.
Great art is the arrangement of the environment so as to provide for the soul vivid values.
Human beings require something which absorbs them for a time, something out of the routine which they can stare at. Great art is more than a transient refreshment. It is something which adds to the permanent richness of the soul's self-attainment. It justifies itself both by its immediate enjoyment, and also by its discipline of the inmost being. Its discipline is not distinct from enjoyment, but by reason of it.