I have always been of the mind that in a democracy manners are the only effective weapons against the bowie-knife.
James Russell LowellRead
The better part of every man's education is that which he gives himself.
Interpretation
Self-education is crucial to personal growth and knowledge.
This quote emphasizes the importance of self-directed learning and personal initiative in education. While formal education provides a foundation, it is the knowledge and experiences an individual actively seeks out that truly enrich their understanding and development.
In practice
During a commencement speech to inspire graduates about lifelong learning.
I have always been of the mind that in a democracy manners are the only effective weapons against the bowie-knife.
The foolish and the dead alone never change their opinions.
Not failure, but low aim, is crime.
Good luck is the willing handmaid of upright, energetic character, and conscientious observance of duty.
Puritanism, believing itself quick with the seed of religious liberty, laid, without knowing it, the egg of democracy.
Books are the bees which carry the quickening pollen from one to another mind.
Sometimes you buy a book, powerfully drawn to it, but then it just sits on the shelf. Maybe you flick through it, the ghost of your original purpose at your elbow, but it's not so much rereading as re-dusting. Then one day you pick it up, take notice of the contents; your inner life realigns.
I always tell kids, you have two eyes and one mouth. Keep two open and one closed. You never learn anything if you're the one talking.
Education should turn out the pupil with something he knows well and something he can do well.
Was putting a man on the moon actually easier than improving education in our public schools?
In an era ruled by materialism and unstable geopolitics, art must be restored to the center of public education.
The newspaper is a greater treasure to the people than uncounted millions of gold.
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