My parents are both college professors, and it made me want to question authority, standards and traditions.
Maya LinRead
I went through withdrawal when I got out of graduate school. It's what you learn, what you think. That's all that counts.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote reflects on the transition from academic life to real-world experiences, emphasizing the importance of learning and personal perspective.
Maya Lin's quote captures the feeling of disconnection that often accompanies the completion of education, particularly graduate school. It suggests that the true value lies not in the formal credentials or titles earned, but in the knowledge gained and the way individuals choose to interpret and apply that knowledge in their lives. This perspective highlights the significance of critical thinking and personal growth beyond academic institutions.
Themes
EducationLearningPerspectiveGraduate SchoolKnowledge
In practice
Example use cases
In a graduation speech, one might use this quote to inspire students about the importance of lifelong learning.
More from Maya Lin
All quotes →I try to give people a different way of looking at their surroundings. That's art to me.
Maya LinRead
How we are using up our home, how we are living and polluting the planet is frightening. It was evident when I was a child. It's more evident now.
Maya LinRead
Sometimes you have to stop thinking. Sometimes you shut down completely. I think that's true in any creative field.
Maya LinRead
A lot of my works deal with a passage, which is about time. I don't see anything that I do as a static object in space. It has to exist as a journey in time.
Maya LinRead
When I was building the Vietnam Memorial, I never once asked the veterans what it was like in the war, because from my point of view, you don't pry into other people's business.
Maya LinRead
Similar quotes
I am not conscious of working especially hard, or of 'working' at all. Writing and teaching have always been, for me, so richly rewarding that I don't think of them as work in the usual sense of the word.
Joyce Carol OatesRead
I remember going to university, and the people who'd left home for the first time looked at the food and were horrified. Whereas, my view was that if it was vaguely edible, then it's fine.
Alain De BottonRead
At painful times, when composition is impossible and reading not enough, grammars and dictionaries are excellent for distraction.
Elizabeth Barrett BrowningRead
Education ought to foster the wish for truth, not the conviction that some particular creed is the truth.
Bertrand RussellRead
And read… read all the time… read as a matter of principle, as a matter of self-respect. Read as a nourishing staple of life.
David McculloughRead
So what should we say when children complete a task—say, math problems—quickly and perfectly? Should we deny them the praise they have earned? Yes. When this happens, I say, “Whoops. I guess that was too easy. I apologize for wasting your time. Let’s do something you can really learn from!
Carol S. DweckRead