Emerson presents inquiry as an enduring human response to the mystery and complexity of existence. To study, know and admire are closely connected activities: study represents investigation, knowledge represents growing understanding, and admiration preserves a sense of wonder about what remains beyond complete explanation. The statement therefore combines intellectual curiosity with an appreciation of the limits of human understanding.

In the surrounding passage, Emerson considers the laws and relationships that appear to order the universe and describes the questions they provoke in the human mind. He does not suggest that inquiry will produce a final answer to everything. Instead, the desire to understand is presented as continuing and potentially inexhaustible. The quotation reflects his broader view that serious thought involves both active investigation and openness to the scale and complexity of reality. Knowledge, on this account, need not eliminate wonder; greater understanding can deepen it.