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.
The quality of our reading is not only an index of the quality of our thought; it is our best-known route to developing whole new pathways in the cerebral evolution of our species.
It is easier for a tutor to command than to teach.
Far from creating independent thinkers, schools have always, throughout history, played an institutional role in a system of control and coercion. And once you are well educated you have already been socialized in ways that support the power structure, which, in turn, rewards you immensely.
I would like to be a terrorist for music education - to make a complete reform, all over the world.
You will only get out of a dance class what you bring to it. Learn by practice.
Reading is a basic tool in the living of a good life.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.