“The vast accumulation of knowledge—or at least information…[has] been responsible for an equally vast ignorance. When there is so much to be known, when there are so many fields of knowledge in which the same words are used with different meanings, when every one knows a little about a great many things, it becomes increasingly difficult for anyone to know whether he knows what he is talking about or not. And when we do not know, or when we do not know enough, we tend always to substitute emotions for thoughts.”
– T.S. Eliot
“There are many who seek knowledge for the sake of knowledge: that is curiosity.
There are others who desire to know in order that they may be known: that is vanity.
Others seek knowledge in order to sell it: that is dishonorable.
But there are some who seek knowledge in order to edify others: that is love.”
– Bernard of Clairvaux
“Great learning and superior abilities, should you ever possess them, will be of little value and small estimation, unless virtue, honor, truth integrity are added to them. Adhere to those religious sentiments and principles which were early instilled into your mind and remember that you are accountable to your Maker for all your words and actions.”
– Abigail Adams (to her 11-year-old son, John Quincy Adams)
“The essence of education is, in the words of William James, to teach a person what deserves to be valued, to impart ideals as well as knowledge, to cultivate in students the ability to distinguish the true and good from their counterfeits and the wisdom to prefer the former to the latter.”
– William J. Bennett
“Disagreement is not expressing one’s disapproval of something or expressing that something makes you feel bad or icky. To really disagree with someone’s idea or opinion, you must first understand that idea or opinion…You might take offense. You might feel bad that someone holds that view. But you are not reasoning unless you are engaging the merits of the argument.”
– Adam J. MacLeod
“I must study politics and war that my sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy. My sons ought to study mathematics and philosophy, geography, natural history, naval architecture, navigation, commerce, and agriculture, in order to give their children a right to study painting, poetry, music, architecture, statuary, tapestry, and porcelain. ”
– John Adams
“The smart way to keep people passive and obedient is to strictly limit the spectrum of acceptable opinion, but allow very lively debate within that spectrum—even encourage the more critical and dissident views. That gives people the sense that there’s free thinking going on, while all the time the presuppositions of the system are being reinforced by the limits put on the range of the debate.”
– Noam Chomsky
“I’ve come to a frightening conclusion that I am the decisive element in the classroom. It’s my personal approach that creates the climate. It’s 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 heal. In all situations, it is my response that decides whether a crisis will be escalated or de-escalated and a child humanized or dehumanized.”
– Haim Ginott