Reason is feminine in nature; it can only give after it has received. Of itself it has nothing but the empty forms of its operation. There is no absolutely pure rational knowledge except the four principles to which I have attributed metalogical truth; the principles of identity, contradiction, excluded middle, and sufficient reason of knowledge. For even the rest of logic is not absolutely pure rational knowledge. It presupposes the relations and the combinations of the spheres of concepts. But concepts in general only exist after experience of ideas of perception, and as their whole nature consists in their relation to these, it is clear that they presuppose them.

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "Reason is feminine in nature; it can only give after it has received. Of itself it has nothing but the empty forms of its operation. There is no absolutely pure rational knowledge except the four principles to which I have attributed metalogical truth; the principles of identity, contradiction, excluded middle, and sufficient reason of knowledge. For even the rest of logic is not absolutely pure rational knowledge. It presupposes the relations and the combinations of the spheres of concepts. But concepts in general only exist after experience of ideas of perception, and as their whole nature consists in their relation to these, it is clear that they presuppose them." in the context of "Vol. I, Ch. 10, as translated by R. B. Haldane
• Variant translations:
• Reason is feminine in nature; it can give only after it has received. Of itself alone, it has nothing but the empty forms of its operation.
 • As translated by Eric F. J. Payne (1958) Vol. II, p. 50
• Reason is feminine in nature: it will give only after it has received." to mean that wisdom is timeless.