Reminiscent of chemistry class- and Walter Scott

"Distillation of Wisdom"
It was a phrase I first encountered in the introduction to a fifty year old edition of "Ivanhoe":

 "Sir Walter Scott was one of those few writers who possessed the distillation of wisdom...." (italics added)

There is no accounting for perspective, or, at the very least, there is no benefit  that justifies the effort behind such inquiries as will put people's varied perspectives....into perspective! For me, the diversity in perspectives is one of those triggers of happy philosophic reveries so frequently found in art and science, in much the same capacity as a David Attenborough program showcasing biodiversity. It is this consideration that reduces the cogency of any single-minded argument made in social discourse. Multiple perspectives always help.
And so, arbitrarily, we look at the "distillation of wisdom" perspective.

History is often told as the story of men with different affinities toward "reason"; this casts it into a narrative of heroes and villains, much like a Walter Scott novel- and just as fictional. If nothing else, however, it provides us with the simplest, most deconstructed picture that teaches much the same lesson.
So, to whom can we reasonably award the "distillation...." distinction?