To starve a child of the spell of the story, of the canter of the poem, oral or written, is a kind of living burial. It is to immure him in emptiness.
George SteinerRead
It took 10 months for me to learn to tie a lace; I must have howled with rage and frustration. But one day I could tie my laces. That no one can take from you. I profoundly distrust the pedagogy of ease.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Learning can be a frustrating process, but mastering a skill is a personal achievement that no one can take away from you.
In this quote, George Steiner reflects on the intense struggle and frustration he faced while learning to tie his shoelaces, emphasizing that the journey of learning is often filled with challenges. He expresses a deep skepticism towards the idea that learning should be easy, suggesting that true mastery comes from hard work and perseverance, leading to a sense of personal accomplishment that is inherent and secure.
Themes
LearningMasteryFrustrationEducationPerseverance
In practice
Example use cases
In a motivational speech about personal growth and overcoming challenges.
More from George Steiner
All quotes →The most important tribute any human being can pay to a poem or a piece of prose he or she really loves is to learn it by heart. Not by brain, by heart; the expression is vital.
George SteinerRead
Every language is a world. Without translation, we would inhabit parishes bordering on silence.
George SteinerRead
I have every reason to believe that an individual man or woman fluent in several tongues seduces, possesses, remembers differently according to his or her use of the relevant language.
George SteinerRead
The letter kills the spirit. The written text is mute in the face of responding challenge. It does not admit of inward growth and correction. Text subverts the absolutely vital role of memory.
George SteinerRead
Books are in no hurry. An act of creation is in no hurry; it reads us, it privileges us infinitely. The notion that it is the occasion for our cleverness fills me with baffled bitterness and anger.
George SteinerRead
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There are many great authors of the past who have survived centuries of oblivion and neglect, but it is still an open question whether they will be able to survive an entertaining version of what they have to say.
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Nature without learning is like a blind man; learning without Nature, like a maimed one; practice without both, incomplete. As in agriculture a good soil is first sought for, then a skilful husbandman, and then good seed; in the same way nature corresponds to the soil, the teacher to the husbandman, precepts and instruction to the seed.
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Books can not be killed by fire. People die, but books never die. No man and no force can abolish memory... In this war, we know, books are weapons. And it is a part of your dedication always to make them weapons for man's freedom.
Franklin D. RooseveltRead
Libraries are the thin red line between civilization and barbarism.
Neil GaimanRead
I guess that’s the beauty of books. When they finish they don’t really finish.
Markus ZusakRead