Parents are usually more careful to bestow knowledge on their children rather than virtue, the art of speaking well rather than doing well; but their manners should be of the greatest concern.
R. Buckminster FullerRead
Thou mayest as well expect to grow stronger by always eating as wiser by always reading. Too much overcharges Nature, and turns more into disease than nourishment. 'Tis thought and digestion which makes books serviceable, and give health and vigor to the mind.
Interpretation
Reading alone does not bring wisdom; it requires thought and reflection.
The quote emphasizes that simply consuming information, whether through books or experiences, is insufficient for gaining wisdom. Just as overeating can harm the body, overindulging in reading without critical thinking can lead to mental stagnation. True understanding comes from digesting the material thoughtfully, allowing it to enhance our mental acuity and clarity.
In practice
A teacher could use this quote to emphasize the importance of critical thinking in education.
Parents are usually more careful to bestow knowledge on their children rather than virtue, the art of speaking well rather than doing well; but their manners should be of the greatest concern.
There is no such thing as genius, some children are just less damaged than others.
Only the free-wheeling artist-explorer, non-academic, scientist-philosopher, mechanic, economist-poet who has never waited for patron-starting and accrediting of his co-ordinate capabilities holds the prime initiative today.
The end move in politics is always to pick up a gun.
I have spent most of my life unlearning things that were proved not to be true
The earth is like a spaceship that didn't come with an operating manual.
It's so much easier to know who you are when there aren't a thousand people telling you who they think you are.
Self-acceptance is my refusal to be in an adversarial relationship to myself.
Meditation means learning how to get out of this current, sit by its bank and listen to it, learn from it, and then use its energies to guide us.
'T is fortune gives us birth, But Jove alone endues the soul with worth.
A child who does not play is not a child, but the man who doesn't play has lost forever the child who lived in him and who he will miss terribly.
The essentials are to learn to shape God with forethought, care, and work; to educate and benefit their community, their families and themselves; and to contribute to the fulfillment of the Destiny.
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