If there's hell below, we're all gonna go.
Curtis MayfieldRead
My teacher told me I'd never amount to anything. I left high school at 15, after one year. But my real teachers were all the people around me. And I was a good listener.
Interpretation
Formal education is not the only source of learning; real-life experiences and interactions can teach us valuable lessons.
In this quote, Curtis Mayfield reflects on his early experiences in education, where he felt underestimated by traditional schooling. He emphasizes the importance of informal learning through observation and listening to those around him, suggesting that valuable life lessons often come from our interactions with others rather than from formal educational settings.
In practice
During a graduation speech to inspire students to seek knowledge beyond the classroom.
If there's hell below, we're all gonna go.
How many 54-year-old quadriplegics are putting albums out? You just have to deal with what you got, try to sustain yourself as best you can, and look to the things that you can do.
Reading the script, I started feeling very deeply bad for Freddie. Between his friends, his partners, and his woman, he was catching a hard time. 'Freddie's Dead' came to me immediately.
I was a very observant child. Almost anything could become a song to me.
I don't like to appoint myself to nothing, knowing I'm no better than anybody else. But it always makes me feel good to know I try to do the best I can, and those who might observe say, 'Hey, I can take a little something from that person.'
Everything was a song. Every conversation, every personal hurt, every observance of people in stress, happiness and love... if you could feel it, I could feel it. And I could write a song about it.
Most of us can't rush around, talk to everyone, know all the cities of the world, we haven't time, money or that many friends. The things you're looking for... are in the world, but the only way the average chap will ever see ninety-nine per cent of them is in a book.
Libraries are the thin red line between civilization and barbarism.
I think the most important thing we can teach our kids for their long-term health and happiness is how to cook.
Long before I wrote stories, I listened for stories. Listening for them is something more acute than listening to them. I suppose it’s an early form of participation in what goes on. Listening children know stories are there. When their elders sit and begin, children are just waiting and hoping for one to come out, like a mouse from its hole.
We found that process praise predicted the child's mindset and desire for challenge five years later.
Children who have an education grow up to lead healthier lives - earn higher income, take better care of their families, contribute to their economies.
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