quotations about learning
Of all evil things the least quantity is to be borne, but of learning and knowledge, the more a man hath, the better he can bear it.
BION
attributed, Day's Collacon
You live and learn. At any rate, you live.
DOUGLAS ADAMS
Mostly Harmless
He is not likely to learn who is not willing to be taught; for the learner has something to do, as well as the teacher.
BENJAMIN WHICHCOTE
Moral and Religious Aphorisms
Learning is not attained by chance, it must be sought for with ardor and attended to with diligence.
ABIGAIL ADAMS
letter to John Quincy Adams, May 8, 1780
No one is exempt from the rule that learning occurs through recognition of error.
ALEXANDER LOWEN
Bioenergetics
The learning which is got by one's own observation and experience, is as far beyond that which is got by precept, as the knowledge of a traveler exceeds that which is got by a map.
J. TILLINGHAST
attributed, Day's Collacon
We busted out of class had to get away from those fools;
We learned more from a three minute record than we ever learned in school.
BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN
"No Surrender", Born in the U.S.A.
A man of learning who makes no use of what he knows, is like a cloud which gives no rain.
GEORGE POPE MORRIS
The New York Mirror, Nov. 13, 1830
I delight in the diffusion of learning; yet, I must confess it, I am most gratified and transported at finding a large quantity of it in one place; just as I would rather have a solid pat of butter at breakfast, than a splash of grease upon the table-cloth that covers half of it.
WALTER SAVAGE LANDOR
Imaginary Conversations
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
Science Past, Science Future
The wisest mind hath something yet to learn.
GEORGE SANTAYANA
Atoms of Thought
It's not really the SATs, the tests themselves, it's what they stand for. It's the scorched earth policy that they create. It's the focus on tedious technicality over inspiring ideas. It's making learning as nit-picky and as joyless as possible.
KATE BYRNE
"Sats are making learning nit-picky and joyless", TES News, May 3, 2016
The chief art of learning is to attempt but a little at a time.
JOHN LOCKE
attributed, Day's Collacon
A man must cling to the belief that the incomprehensible is comprehensible; otherwise he would not try to fathom it.
JOHANN WOLFGANG VON GOETHE
The Maxims and Reflections of Goethe
Learn, as if never overtaking your object, and yet as if apprehensive of losing it.
CONFUCIUS
The Wisdom of Confucius
One destitute of wealth is not destitute, he is indeed rich, but the man devoid of learning is destitute in every way.
CHANAKYA
Vridda-Chanakya
Creativity is a type of learning process where the teacher and pupil are located in the same individual.
ARTHUR KOESTLER
attributed, The Gigantic Book of Teachers' Wisdom
Gie me ae spark o' Nature's fire,
That's a' the learning I desire.
ROBERT BURNS
First Epistle to John Lapraik
There is no royal road to learning; no short cut to the acquirement of any art.
ANTHONY TROLLOPE
Barchester Towers
To be proud of learning is the greatest ignorance.
JEREMY TAYLOR
The Rule and Exercises of Holy Living