Robert M. Hutchins

There is only one justification for universities, as distinguished from trade schools. They must be centers of criticism.

Equality and justice, the two great distinguishing characteristics of democracy, follow inevitably from the conception of men, all men, as rational and spiritual beings.

Every act of every man is a moral act, to be tested by moral, and not by economic criteria.

Education is a kind of continuing dialogue, and a dialogue assumes different points of view.

A student can win twelve letters at a university without learning how to write one.

A civilization in which there is not a continuous controversy about important issues is on the way to totalitarianism and death

America's experiment with government of the people, by the people, and for the people depends not only on constitutional structure and organization but also on the commitment, person to person, that we make to each other.

My idea of education is to unsettle the minds of the young and inflame their intellects.