quotations about learning
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
To learn gives the liveliest pleasure, not only to philosophers but to men in general.
ARISTOTLE
Poetics
As we grow older, we must discipline ourselves to continue expanding, broadening, learning, keeping out minds active and open.
CLINT EASTWOOD
attributed, A Quiet Strength
That's what learning is, after all; not whether we lose the game, but how we lose and how we've changed because of it and what we take away from it that we never had before, to apply to other games. Losing, in a curious way, is winning.
RICHARD BACH
The Bridge Across Forever
Man is but a beast without it: such a glorious god is Learning.
BHARTRHARI
"The Praise of the Wise Man"
The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go.
DR. SEUSS
I Can Read with My Eyes Shut!
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
Learning makes a man fit company for himself.
LA HARPE
attributed, Day's Collacon
That is what learning is. You suddenly understand something you've understood all your life, but in a new way.
DORIS LESSING
The Four-Gated City
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
Learning, though it is useful when we know how to make a right use of it, yet, considered as in our own power, and to those who trust to it without seeking a superior guidance ... it is indeed like a sword in a madman's hands, which gives him the more opportunity of hurting himself than others.
JOHN NEWTON
Cardiphonia; or, The Utterance of the Heart
He who studies without passion will never become anything more than a pedant.
STEFAN ZWEIG
Confusion of Feelings or Confusion
You live and learn. Or you don't live long.
ROBERT A. HEINLEIN
The Notebooks of Lazarus Long
The wisest mind hath something yet to learn.
GEORGE SANTAYANA
Atoms of Thought
Learning makes a good man better, and an ill man worse.
JOHN GARTH
attributed, Day's Collacon
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 like a cow of desire. It, like her, yields in all seasons.
CHANAKYA
Vridda-Chanakya
Whoso neglects learning in his youth, loses the past and is dead for the future.
EURIPIDES
Phrixus, fragment
I'm learning to fly, but I ain't got wings. Coming down is the hardest thing.
TOM PETTY
Learning to Fly
Learning is a plant that grows in all climes.
AKBAR
attributed, Day's Collacon