BOOK-LEARNING, n. The dunce’s derisive term for all knowledge that transcends his own impenitent ignorance.
Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914?) American writer and journalist
“Book-learning,” “Devil’s Dictionary” column, San Francisco Wasp (1881-05-14)
(Source)
Quotations about:
school
Note not all quotations have been tagged, so Search may find additional quotes on this topic.
CALVIN: As you can see, I have memorized this utterly useless piece of information long enough to pass a test question. I now intend to forget it forever. You’ve taught me nothing except how to cynically manipulate the system. Congratulations.
CALVIN: Today at school, I tried to decide whether to cheat on my test or not. I wondered, is it better to do the right thing and fail … or is it better to do the wrong thing and succeed?
On the one hand, underserved success gives no satisfaction … but on the other hand, well-deserved failure gives no satisfaction either.
Of course, most everybody cheats some time or other. People always bend the rules if they think they can get away with it. … then again, that doesn’t justify my cheating.
Then I thought, look, cheating on one little test isn’t such a big deal. It doesn’t hurt anyone … but then I wondered if I was just rationalizing my unwillingness to accept the consequence of my not studying.
Still, in the real world, people care about success, not principles … then again, maybe that’s why the world is in such a mess. What a dilemma!HOBBES: So what did you decide?
CALVIN: Nothing. I ran out of time and had to turn in a blank paper.
HOBBES: Anymore, simply acknowledging the issue is a moral victory.
CALVIN: Well, it just seemed wrong to cheat on an ethics test.
Philosophy is odious and obscure;
Both law and physic are for petty wits;
Divinity is basest of the three,
Unpleasant, harsh, contemptible, and vile:
‘Tis magic, magic, that hath ravish’d me.Christopher "Kit" Marlowe (1564-1593) English dramatist and poet
The Tragicall History of the Life and Death of Doctor Faustus, Act 1, sc. 1 (sc. 1), l. 138ff (1594; 1604 “A” text)
(Source)
Declaring to the magicians Valdes and Cornelius his decision to pursue magical studies.
Goethe's Faust (1808-1829) includes a similar litany of studies the title character feels are useless.
In the generally longer 1616 "B" text (l. 131ff), the lines about Divinity studies are omitted:Philosophy is odious and obscure:
Both Law and Physicke are for petty wits,
Tis Magicke, Magicke that hath ravisht me.
CALVIN: (in front of the class yelling) Today for “Show and Tell,” I refuse to show you what I brought and I refuse to tell you anything about it.
CALVIN: (grinning evilly) It’s a mystery that will haunt you all your miserable lives! You’ll never, ever know what I brought! You can beg and plead, but I’ll never end your torment!
CALVIN: (laughing) I’ll carry my secret to the grave! It’s the Show and Tell that was never shown or told! Ha ha ha! Ah ha ha ha ha!
CALVIN: (walking toward the Principal’s door, sulking) Everybody wants the same old thing.
CALVIN: Miss Wormwood, I have a question about this math lesson.
TEACHER: Yes?
CALVIN: Given that, sooner or later, we’re all just going to die, what’s the point of learning about integers?
TEACHER: Turn to page 83, class.
CALVIN: (sulking) Nobody likes us “big picture” people.
Education is the most radical thing in the world.
To teach the alphabet is to inaugurate a revolution.
To build a schoolhouse is to construct a fort.
Every library is an arsenal filled with the weapons and ammunition of Progress, and every fact is a monitor with sides of iron and a turret of steel.
But here the main skill and ground-work will be, to temper them such lectures and explanations upon every opportunity as may lead and draw them in willing obedience, inflamed with the study of learning, and the admiration of virtue; stirred up with high hopes of living to be brave men, and worthy patriots, dear to God, and famous to all ages.
MRS. DARLING: (from the window) Peter, where are you? Let me adopt you too. (She is the loveliest age for a woman, but too old to see PETER clearly.)
PETER: Would you send me to school?
MRS. DARLING: (obligingly) Yes.
PETER: And then to an office?
MRS. DARLING: I suppose so.
PETER: Soon I should be a man?
MRS. DARLING: Very soon.
PETER: (passionately) I don’t want to go to school and learn solemn things. No one is going to catch me, lady, and make me a man. I want always to be a little boy and to have fun.
J. M. Barrie (1860-1937) Scottish novelist and dramatist [James Matthew Barrie]
Peter Pan, Act 5 (1904, pub. 1928)
(Source)
In Barrie's novelization, Peter and Wendy, ch. 17 "When Wendy Grew Up" (1911), this is rendered:Mrs. Darling came to the window, for at present she was keeping a sharp eye on Wendy. She told Peter that she had adopted all the other boys, and would like to adopt him also.
“Would you send me to school?” he inquired craftily.
“Yes.”
“And then to an office?”
“I suppose so.”
“Soon I should be a man?”
“Very soon.”
“I don’t want to go to school and learn solemn things,” he told her passionately. “I don’t want to be a man. O Wendy’s mother, if I was to wake up and feel there was a beard!”
“Peter,” said Wendy the comforter, “I should love you in a beard;” and Mrs. Darling stretched out her arms to him, but he repulsed her.
“Keep back, lady, no one is going to catch me and make me a man.”
Poets, orators, even philosophes, say the same things about fame we were told as boys to encourage us to win prizes. What they tell children to make them prefer being praised by their nannies to eating jam tarts is the same idea constantly drummed into us to encourage us to sacrifice our real interests in the hope of being praised by our contemporaries or by posterity.
[Ce que les poètes, les orateurs, même quelques philosophes nous disent sur l’amour de la Gloire, on nous le disait au Collège, pour nous encourager à avoir les prix. Ce que l’on dit aux enfans pour les engager à préférer à une tartelette les louanges de leurs bonnes, c’est ce qu’on répète aux hommes pour leur faire préférer à un intérêt personnel les éloges de leurs contemporains ou de la postérité.]Nicolas Chamfort (1741-1794) French writer, epigrammist (b. Nicolas-Sébastien Roch)
Products of Perfected Civilization [Produits de la Civilisation Perfectionée], Part 1 “Maxims and Thoughts [Maximes et Pensées],” ch. 1, ¶ 85 (1795) [tr. Parmée (2003), ¶ 69]
(Source)
(Source (French)). Alternate translations:The things which poets, orators, and even a few philosophers tell us about the love of Glory, are exactly the things we are told at College to encourage us to win prizes. And what they say to children to make them prefer the praise of their nurses to a tartlet, they repeat to grown men to make them prefer the eulogy of their fellows or of posterity to personal advantage.
[tr. Mathers (1926)]All that the poets, the orators, and even certain philosophers tell us about the love of fame we were told at school to urge us to win prizes. All that is said to encourage children to prefer the praise of their mentors to a piece of pie is repeated to men to make them consider their personal profit less desirable than the plaudits of their contemporaries and of posterity.
[tr. Merwin (1969)]Things said by poets, orators, even some philosophers, about love of glory, were told to us at the Collège to encourage us to win prizes. What children are told to incline them to prefer a slice of tart to their nurses' approval, is the same as what men are repeatedly told to make them put the commendation of their contemporaries, or that of posterity, before their personal interest.
[tr. Pearson (1973)]What poets, orators, even several philosophers have said about the love of fame, was told to us at school to encourage us to win prizes.
[tr. Dusinberre (1992)]What poets, orators, and even philosophers say to us about love of glory is the same as what people said to us in the colleges to encourage us to compete for prizes. What people tell children to make them prefer the praise of their nurses to something silly is the same thing that people repeat to men to make them prefer the praise of their contemporaries or of posterity to their own self-interest.
[tr. Siniscalchi (1994)]
It is at school […] that he learns of the importance attached by the French nation to pens, ink, and paper. “Have you pens, ink, and paper?” is the first question asked by one Frenchman of another on their meeting. The other fellow has not any of them, as a rule, but says that the uncle of his brother has got them all three. The first fellow doesn’t appear to care a hang about the uncle of the other fellow’s brother; what he wants to know now is, has the neighbor of the other fellow’s mother got ’em? “The neighbor of my mother has no pens, no ink, and no paper,” replies the other man, beginning to get wild. “Has the child of thy female gardener some pens, some ink, or some paper?” He has him there. After worrying enough about these wretched inks, pens, and paper to make everybody miserable, it turns out that the child of his own female gardener hasn’t any. Such a discovery would shut up any one but a French exercise man. It has no effect at all, though, on this shameless creature. He never thinks of apologizing, but says his aunt has some mustard.
Jerome K. Jerome (1859-1927) English writer, humorist [Jerome Klapka Jerome]
Idle Thoughts of an Idle Fellow, “On Memory” (1886)
(Source)
First published in Home Chimes (1885-09-26).
I have come to the frightening conclusion that I am the decisive element in the classroom. It is my personal approach that creates the climate. It is my daily mood that makes the weather. As a teacher, I possess a tremendous power to make a child’s life miserable or joyous. I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration. I can humiliate or humor, hurt or heal. In all situations, it is my response that decides whether a crisis will be escalated or de-escalated, a child humanized or de-humanized.
Haim Ginott (1922-1973) Israeli-American school teacher, child psychologist, psychotherapist [b. Haim Ginzburg]
Teacher and Child, Preface (1972)
(Source)
Quoting his writing as a young teacher.
Well, that’s Philosophy I’ve read,
And Law and Medicine, and I fear
Theology, too, from A to Zed;
Hard studies all, that have cost me dear.
And so I sit, poor silly man
No wiser now than when I began.[Habe nun, ach! Philosophie,
Juristerei und Medizin,
Und leider auch Theologie
Durchaus studiert, mit heißem Bemühn.
Da steh ich nun, ich armer Tor!
Und bin so klug als wie zuvor.]Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) German poet, statesman, scientist
Faust: a Tragedy [eine Tragödie], Part 1, sc. 4 “Night,” ll. 354ff (1808-1829) [tr. Luke (1987)]
(Source)
Some translations (and this site) include the Declaration, Prelude on the Stage, and Prologue in Heaven as individual scenes; others do not, leading to their Part 1 scenes being numbered three lower.
See Marlowe (1594).
(Source (German)). Alternate translations:I've studied now Philosophy
And Jurisprudence, Medicine,
And even, alas! Theology
All through and through with ardour keen!
Here now I stand, poor fool, and see
I'm just as wise as formerly.
[tr. Priest (1808)]Now I have toil'd thro' all; philosophy,
Law, physic, and theology: alas!
All, all I have explor'd; and here I am
A weak blind fool at last: in wisdom risen
No higher than before.
[tr. Coleridge (1821)]I have now, alas, by zealous exertion, thoroughly mastered philosophy, the jurist's craft, and medicine -- and to my sorrow, theology too. Here I stand, poor fool that I am, just as wise as before.
[tr. Hayward (1831)]I have, alas! Philosophy,
Medicine, Jurisprudence too,
And to my cost Theology,
With ardent labour, studied through.
And here I stand, with all my lore,
Poor fool, no wiser than before.
[tr. Swanwick (1850)]Have now, alas! quite studied through
Philosophy and Medicine,
And Law, and ah! Theology, too,
With hot desire the truth to win!
And here, at last, I stand, poor fool!
As wise as when I entered school
[tr. Brooks (1868)]I've studied now Philosophy
And Jurisprudence, Medicine, --
And even, alas! Theology, --
From end to end, with labor keen;
And here, poor fool! with all my lore
I stand, no wiser than before:
[tr. Taylor (1870)]There now, I’ve toiled my way quite through
Law, Medicine, and Philosophy,
And, to my sorrow, also thee,
Theology, with much ado;
And here I stand, poor human fool,
As wise as when I went to school.
[tr. Blackie (1880)]I have studied, alas! Philosophy,
And Jurisprudence, and Medicine, too,
And saddest of all, Theology,
With arden labor, through and through!
And here I stick, as wise, poor fool,
As when my steps first turned to school.
[tr. Latham (1908)]I have, alas, studied philosophy,
Jurisprudence and medicine, too,
And, worst of all, theology
With keen endeavor, through and through --
And here I am, for all my lore,
The wretched fool I was before.
[tr. Kaufmann (1961)]Alas, I have studied philosophy,
the law as well as medicine,
and to my sorrow, theology;
studied them well with ardent zeal,
yet here I am, a wretched fool
no wiser than I was before.
[tr. Salm (1962)]I have pursued, alas, philosophy,
Jurisprudence, and medicine, And, help me God, theology,
With fervent zeal through thick and thin.
And here, poor fool, I stand once more,
No wiser than I was before.
[tr. Arndt (1976)]I've studied, alas, philosophy,
Law and medicine, recto and verso,
And how I regret it, theology also,
Oh God, how hard I've slaved away,
With what result? Poor foolish old man,
I'm not whit wiser than when I began!
[tr. Greenberg (1992)]Medicine, and Law, and Philosophy --
You've worked your way through every school,
Even, God help you, Theology,
And sweated at it like a fool.
Why labour at it any more?
You're no wiser now than you were before.
[tr. Williams (1999)]Ah! Now I’ve done Philosophy,
I’ve finished Law and Medicine,
And sadly even Theology:
Taken fierce pains, from end to end.
Now here I am, a fool for sure!
No wiser than I was before.
[tr. Kline (2003)]
What happens when a state tries to purge its state universities or a community tries to purge its public schools of alleged subversives? […] What happens is the demoralization and eventual corruption of the school system.
This is not a momentary or even temporary affair; it is something the consequences of which may be felt for years. The search for subversives results in the intimidation of the independent, the original, the imaginative, and the experimental-minded. It discourages independence of thought in teachers and students alike. It discourages the reading of books that may excite the suspicion of some investigator or some Legionnaire. It discourages the discussion of controversial matters in the classroom, for such discussion may be reported, or misreported, and cause trouble. It creates a situation where first-rate minds will not go into teaching or into administration and where students therefore get poor teaching.
In the long run it will create a generation incapable of appreciating the difference between independence of thought and subservience. In the long run it will create a generation not only deprived of liberty but incapable of enjoying liberty.Henry Steele Commager (1902-1998) American historian, writer, activist
Essay (1953-02-21), “Is Freedom Really Necessary?” Saturday Review
(Source)
Based on a discussion by the American Round Table, New York City (1951). Collected as "Free Enterprise in Ideas," Freedom, Loyalty and Dissent (1954).
Self-education is, I firmly believe, the only kind of education there is. The only function of a school is to make self-education easier; failing that, it does nothing.
Isaac Asimov (1920-1992) Russian-American author, polymath, biochemist
Science Past, Science Future (1975)
(Source)
Teaching takes skill and education and dedication. Home schooling as an idea is on a par with home dentistry.
Dick Cavett (b. 1936) American writer and critic
“Schooling Santorum,”New York Times (24 Feb 2012)
(Source)
I was a model child. It was the teacher’s mistake I am sure. The box was drawn on the blackboard and the names of misbehaving children were written in it. As I adored my teacher, Miss Smith, I was destroyed to see my name appear. This was just the first of the many humiliations of my youth that I’ve tried to revenge through my writing. I have never fully exorcised shames that struck me to the heart as a child except through written violence, shadowy caricature, and dark jokes.
Louise Erdrich (b. 1954) American author, poet
Interview with Lisa Halliday, “The Art of Fiction” #208, The Paris Review (Winter 2010)
(Source)
On the inspiration behind Dot Adare's 1st Grade teacher putting her into the "naughty box" in The Beet Queen (1986).
I endorse it. I think it was correct. Contrary to what many have said, it sought to outlaw neither prayer nor belief in god. In a pluralistic society such as ours, who is to determine what prayer shall be spoken and by whom? Legally, constitutionally or otherwise, the state certainly has no such right.
Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968) American clergyman, civil rights leader, social activist, preacher
Playboy interview (Jan 1965)
(Source)
On the U.S. Supreme Court's decision to ban school-led prayer.
We readily inquire, “Does he know Greek or Latin?” “Can he write poetry and prose?” But what matters most is what we put last: “Has he become better and wiser?” We ought to find out not who understands most but who understands best. We work merely to fill the memory, leaving the understanding and the sense of right and wrong empty.
[Nous enquerons volontiers, Sçait-il du Grec ou du Latin ? escrit-il en vers ou en prose ? mais, s’il est devenu meilleur ou plus advisé, c’estoit le principal, & c’est ce qui demeure derriere. Il falloit s’enquerir qui est mieux sçavant, non qui est plus sçavant. Nous ne travaillons qu’à remplir la memoire, & laissons l’entendement & la conscience vuide.]
Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592) French essayist
Essays, Book 1, ch. 24 (1.24), “Of Pedantry [Du pedantisme]”(1572-1578) [tr. Screech (1987), ch. 25]
(Source)
This chapter was present in the 1580 edition, and was expanded in succeeding ones. In the case of this passage, the words "and the sense of right and wrong" were added in the 1595 ed.
The 1595 ed. and beyond labeled this as ch. 24; the 1588 ed. used ch. 25. Different translators may vary.
(Source (French)). Alternate translations:We are ever ready to aske, Hath he any skill in the Greeke and Latine tongue? can he write well? doth hee write in prose or verse? But whether hee bee growne better or wiser, which should bee the chiefest of his drift, that is never spoken of, we should rather enquire who is better wise, then who is more wise. We labour, and toyle, and plod to fill the memorie, and leave both understanding and conscience emptie.
[tr. Florio (1603), ch. 24]Men are ready to ask, does he understand Greek or Latin? Is he a poet or prose writer? But whether he is the better or more discreet man, though it is the main question, is the last; for the inquiry should be, who has the best learning, not who has the most.
We only take pains to stuff the memory, and leave the understanding and conscience quite unfurnished. [tr. Cotton (1686), ch. 24]Men are apt presently to inquire, does such a one understand Greek or Latin? Is he a poet? or does he write in prose? But whether he be grown better or more discreet, which are qualities of principal concern, these are never thought of. We should rather examine, who is better learned, than who is more learned.
We only labor to stuff the memory, and leave the conscience and the understanding unfurnished and void.
[tr. Cotton/Hazlitt (1877), ch. 24]Men are apt to inquire, "Does such a one undersdtand Greek and Latin? Is he a poet, or does he write prose?" But the main point, whether he be better or more discreet, we inquire into the lastd. The question should be, Who is the better learned? rather than, Who is the more learned?
We labor and plot to stuff the memory8 and in the meantime leave the conscience and the understanding empty.
[tr. Rector (1899)]We readily ask ourselves: "Does he know Greek or Latin? Does he write in verse or in prose?" but whether he has become better or more thoughtful -- that is the principal thing, and that is left in the background. The enquiry should be, who is best learned, not who is most learned. We labour only to fill the memory, and we leave the understanding and the conscience empty.
[tr. Ives (1925), ch. 25]We are eager to inquire: “Does he know Greek or Latin? Does he write in verse or in prose?” But whether he has become better or wiser, which would be the main thing, that is left out. We should have asked who is better learned, not who is more learned.
We labor only to fill our memory, and leave the understanding and the conscience empty.
[tr. Frame (1943), ch. 25]
I gladly return to the subject of the ineptitude of our education. Its goal has been to make us not good or wise, but learned; it has attained this goal. It has not taught us to follow and embrace virtue and wisdom, but has imprinted in us their derivation and etymology. We know how to decline virtue, if we cannot love it. If we do not know what wisdom is by practice and experience, we know it by jargon and by rote.
[Je retombe volontiers sur ce discours de l’ineptie de nostre institution : Elle a eu pour sa fin, de nous faire, non bons & sages, mais sçavans : elle y est arrivée. Elle ne nous a pas appris de suyvre & embrasser la vertu & la prudence : mais elle nous en a imprimé la derivation & l’etymologie. Nous sçavons decliner vertu, si nous ne sçavons l’aymer. Si nous ne sçavons que c’est que prudence par effect, & par experience, nous le sçavons par jargon & par cœur.]
Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592) French essayist
Essays, Book 2, ch. 17 (2.17), “Of Presumption [De la Presomption] (1578) [tr. Frame (1943)]
(Source)
This essay appeared in the 1st (1580) edition, and this section remained the same through later editions.
(Source (French)). Alternate translations:I willingly returne to this discourse of the fondnesse of our institution: whose aime hath beene to make us not good and wittie, but wise and learned; She hath attained her purpose. It hath not taught us to follow vertue and embrace wisedome; but made an impression in us of it’s Ethimoligie and derivation. Wee can decline vertue, yet can we not love it. If we know not what wisedome is by effect and experience, we know it by prattling and by rote.
[tr. Florio (1603)]I willingly fall again into the discourse of the folly of our education; the end of which has not been to render us good and wise, but learned, and it has obtained it: it has not taught us to follow and embrace virtue and prudence, but has imprinted in us the derivation and etymology, of those words: we know how to decline virtue, yet we know not how to love it: if we do not know what prudence is in effect, and by experience, we have it, however, by jargon and by heart.
[tr. Cotton (1686), 2.8]I willingly fall again into the discourse of the vanity of our education, the end of which is not to render us good and wise, but learned, and she has obtained it. She has not taught us to follow and embrace virtue and prudence, but she has imprinted in us their derivation and etymology; we know how to decline Virtue, if we know not how to love it; if we do not know what prudence is really and in effect, and by experience, we have it however by jargon and heart.
[tr. Cotton/Hazlitt (1877)]I again fall to talking of the vanity of our education, the end of which is not to make us good and wise, but learned. Education has not taught us to follow and embrace virtue and prudence, but she has imprinted in us their derivation and etymology. We know how to decline the word virtue, even if we know not how to love it. If we do not know what prudence really is, in effect and by experience, we at least have the etymology and meaning of the word by heart.
[tr. Rector (1899)]I recur readily to discourses on the utility of our education: its aim has been to make us, not good men and wise, but learned; it has succeeded. It has not taught us to follow and embrace virtue and wisdom, but it has impressed on us their verbal derivation and etymology. We know how to decline virtue, if we do not know how to love it; if we do not know what wisdom is, by results and by experience, we know it by unmeaning words and by hearsay.
[tr. Ives (1925)]I readily relapse into my reflections on the uselessness of our education. Its aim has been to make us not good and wise, but learned; and in this it has succeeded. It has not taught us to follow and embrace virtue and wisdom, but has imprinted their derivations and etymologies on our minds. We are able to decline virtue, even if we are unable to love it; if we do not know what wisdom is in fact and by experience, we are familiar with it as a jargon learned by heart.
[tr. Cohen (1958)]I gladly come back to the theme of the absurdity of our education: its end has not been to make us good and wise but learned. And it has succeeded. It has not taught us to seek virtue and to embrace wisdom: it has impressed upon us their derivation and their etymology. We know how to decline the Latin word for virtue: we do not know how to love virtue. Though we do not know what wisdom is in practice or from experience we do know the jargon off by heart.
[tr. Screech (1987)]
Schoolmasters and parents exist to be grown out of.
John Wolfenden (1906-1985) British educator, author
In Sunday Times (London) (13 Jul 1958)
There is, thank God, no teacher-meter, and there is never going to be one. A teacher’s major contribution may pop out anonymously in the life of some ex-student’s grandchild. A teacher, finally, has nothing to go on but faith, a student nothing to offer in return but testimony.
Wendell Berry (b. 1934) American farmer, educator, poet, conservationist
Essay (1985), “Wallace Stegner and the Great Community,” What Are People For? (1990)
(Source)
As I left the building, classes were changing and the students were milling about in the halls. They seemed inconceivably young to me. Full of pretense, massively other oriented, ill formed, partial, angry, earnest, resentful, excited, frantic, depressed, hopeful, and scared.
Robert B. Parker (1932-2010) American writer
Chance (1996)
The love of learning, the sequestered nooks,
And all the sweet serenity of books.
A talent forms itself in solitude,
A character amid the stream of life.[Es bildet ein Talent sich in der Stille,
Sich ein Charakter in dem Strom der Welt.]Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) German poet, statesman, scientist
Torquato Tasso, Act 1, sc. 2, ll. 304-305 [Leonora] (1790) [tr. Ryder (1993)]
(Source)
(Source (German)). Alternate translations:
- "A talent doth in stillness form itself -- / A character on life's unquiet stream." [tr. Des Voeux (1827)]
- "Talents are nurtured best in solitude, -- / A character on life's tempestuous sea." [tr. Swanwick (1843)]
- "Man's talent ripens in tranquility, / His character in battling with the world." [tr. Cartwright (1861)]
- "A talent in tranquility is formed, / A character in the turbulence of affairs." [tr. Hamburger (20th C)]
- "Talent develops in quiet places, / Character in the full current of human life."
- Talents are best nurtured in solitude; / Character is best formed in the stormy billows of the world.
- "Genius is formed in quiet, / Character in the stream of human life."
Fifty years from now, if an understanding of man’s origins, his evolution, his history, his progress is not in the common place of the school books, we shall not exist.
Jacob Bronowski (1908-1974) Polish-English humanist and mathematician
The Ascent of Man, Ep. 13 “The Long Childhood” (1973)
I have had playmates, I have had companions;
In my days of childhood, in my joyful school days —
All, all are gone, the old familiar faces.Charles Lamb (1775-1834) Welsh-English essayist
“Old Familiar Faces” (1798)
Laws for the liberal education of youth, especially of the lower class of people, are so extremely wise and useful, that, to a humane and generous mind, no expense for this purpose would be thought extravagant.
John Adams (1735–1826) American lawyer, Founding Father, statesman, US President (1797–1801)
Letter (1776-04) to George Wythe, “Thoughts on Government”
(Source)
This is taken from the printed edition of the influential essay, believed to be from the version Adams sent to George Wythe of Virginia.
There are obviously two educations. One should teach us how to make a living and the other how to live.
John Adams (1735–1826) American lawyer, Founding Father, statesman, US President (1797–1801)
(Misattributed)
Actually American writer and historian James Truslow Adams (1878-1949).Variants:
- "There are two types of education. One should teach us how to make a living, and the other how to live."
- "There are two educations. One should teach us how to make a living and the other how to live."
A child miseducated is a child lost.
John F. Kennedy (1917-1963) American politician, author, journalist, US President (1961–63)
State of the Union address (1962-01-11)
This quotation is usually attributed to Kennedy's 1963 State of the Union Address, but it does not show up in the formal text or the video recording.
It actually appears to be from his 1962 State of the Union address; while it does not appear in the text or the audio recording, it does show up in a copy in Vital Speeches and Documents of the Day, Vol. 2 (1961). There are other small textual changes to the speech in that version, which may reflect a press release version before or after the actual speech.
The great business of study is to form a mind adapted and adequate to all times and all occasions; to which all nature is then laid open, and which may be said to possess the key of her inexhaustible riches.
Joshua Reynolds (1723-1792) British painter, critic
“Discourse Eleven” (10 Dec 1782)
Studies themselves give forth directions too much at large, except they be bounded by experience.
Francis Bacon (1561-1626) English philosopher, scientist, author, statesman
“Of Studies,” Essays, No. 50 (1625)
(Source)
Cultivated mind is the guardian genius of Democracy, and while guided and controlled by virtue, the noblest attribute of man. It is the only dictator that freemen acknowledge, and the only security which freemen desire.
Mirabeau Buonaparte Lamar (1798-1859) Texas politician, poet, diplomat, soldier
First Message to Congress of the Republic of Texas, Houston (21 Dec 1838)
Frequently quoted by Lyndon Johnson, often paraphrased as "The educated mind is the guardian genius of democracy. It is the only dictator that free men recognize, and the only ruler that free men desire." Rendered in Latin ("Disciplina praesidium civitatis"), it is the motto of the University of Texas.
“Reeling and Writhing, of course, to begin with,” the Mock Turtle replied: “and then the different branches of Arithmetic — Ambition, Distraction, Uglification, and Derision.”
“I never heard of ‘Uglification,'” Alice ventured to say. “What is it?”
The Gryphon lifted up both its paws in surprise. “Never heard of uglifying!” it exclaimed. “You know what to beautify is, I suppose?”
“Yes,” said Alice, doubtfully: “it means — to — make — anything — prettier.”
“Well then,” the Gryphon went on, “if you don’t know what to uglify is, you are a simpleton.”
Alice did not feel encouraged to ask any more questions about it, so she turned to the Mock Turtle, and said, “What else had you to learn?”
“Well, there was Mystery,” the Mock Turtle replied, counting off the subjects on his flappers, — “Mystery, ancient and modern, with Seaography: then Drawling — the Drawling-master was an old conger-eel, that used to come once a week: he taught us Drawling, Stretching, and Fainting in Coils.”Lewis Carroll (1832-1898) English writer and mathematician [pseud. of Rev. Charles Lutwidge Dodgson]
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, ch. 9 “The Mock Turtle’s Story” (1865)
(Source)
Describing the "regular course" at the school he attended.
COLE: We were supposed to draw a picture. Anything we wanted. I drew a man. He got hurt in the neck by another man with a screwdriver.
MALCOLM: You saw that on TV, Cole?
COLE: Everyone got upset. They had a meeting. Mom started crying. I don’t draw like that anymore.
MALCOLM: How do you draw now?
COLE: I draw — people smiling, dogs running, rainbows. They don’t have meetings about rainbows.
M. Night Shyamalan (b. 1970) Indian-American screenwriter, director
The Sixth Sense (1999)
(Source)
(Source (Video); dialog confirmed)
The mind is not a vessel to be filled, but a fire to be kindled.
Plutarch (AD 46-127) Greek historian, biographer, essayist [Mestrius Plutarchos]
Morals [Moralia], “On Listening to Lectures”
Alt trans.: "The correct analogy for the mind is not a vessel that needs filling, but wood that needs igniting."
Study depends on the good will of the student, a quality that cannot be secured by compulsion.
[Studium discendi voluntate, quae cogi non potest, constat.]
Quintilian (39-90) Roman orator [Marcus Fabius Quintilianus]
De Institutione Oratoria, Book 3, ch. 8
CALVIN: I don’t want to go to school. I don’t want to know anything new. I already know more than I want to! I liked things better when I didn’t understand them! The fact is, I’m being educated against my will! My rights are being trampled!
HOBBES: Is it a right to remain ignorant?
CALVIN: I don’t know, but I refuse to find out!
CALVIN: I used to hate writing assignments, but now I enjoy them. I realized that the purpose of writing is to inflate weak ideas, obscure poor reasoning, and inhibit clarity. With a little practice, writing can be an intimidating and impenetrable fog!
