quotations about learning
Sit down before fact as a little child, be prepared to give up every preconceived notion, follow humbly wherever and to whatever abysses nature leads, or you shall learn nothing.
THOMAS HENRY HUXLEY
Life and Letters of Thomas Henry Huxley
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
The important point is that learning is not a fixed process, unvarying in all learners. Not only is the human organism characterized by a remarkable plasticity (that is, a striking ability to change), but it is also characterized by a variety of ways of thinking and learning.
GUY LEFRANCOIS
Theories of Human Learning: What the Professor Said
The love of learning, the sequestered nooks,
And all the sweet serenity of books
HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW
"Morituri Salutamus", Poems and Other Writings
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
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
Learning makes a good man better, and an ill man worse.
JOHN GARTH
attributed, Day's Collacon
Learning is a plant that grows in all climes.
AKBAR
attributed, Day's Collacon
Man is but a beast without it: such a glorious god is Learning.
BHARTRHARI
"The Praise of the Wise Man"
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
Learning is like a cow of desire. It, like her, yields in all seasons.
CHANAKYA
Vridda-Chanakya
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
Out of too much learning cometh heresy.
POPE SIXTUS IV
attributed, Day's Collacon
It turns out that saying, "You can't teach an old dog new tricks," doesn't apply to humans. Research now reveals that our brains are continuously changing, producing new growth, making new connections. It doesn't matter how old we are, we are still under construction, learning as we go along.
DANA LIGHTMAN
Power Optimism
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
The wisest mind hath something yet to learn.
GEORGE SANTAYANA
Atoms of Thought
No one is exempt from the rule that learning occurs through recognition of error.
ALEXANDER LOWEN
Bioenergetics
Learning makes a man fit company for himself.
LA HARPE
attributed, Day's Collacon
To learn gives the liveliest pleasure, not only to philosophers but to men in general.
ARISTOTLE
Poetics