A great empire and little minds go ill together.
Edmund BurkeRead
To read without reflecting is like eating without digesting.
Interpretation
Reading requires thought and consideration, just as eating requires digestion to gain nourishment.
This quote by Edmund Burke emphasizes the importance of critical thinking when it comes to reading. Merely consuming information without taking the time to reflect on it is akin to eating food without digesting it; you may go through the motions, but you won't gain any nourishment or understanding from the experience. Reflection allows us to process what we've read, leading to deeper comprehension and the ability to apply knowledge effectively.
In practice
In a book club discussion about the importance of understanding texts, this quote can highlight the need for reflection.
A great empire and little minds go ill together.
Flattery corrupts both the receiver and the giver.
The hottest fires in hell are reserved for those who remain neutral in times of moral crisis.
Society can overlook murder, adultery or swindling; it never forgives preaching of a new gospel.
The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.
Men are qualified for civil liberty in exact proportion to their disposition to put moral chains upon their own appetites.
If someone comes to you with, 'It's my kid's graduation,' you don't tell them, 'Sorry, you can't go to that.' You just don't do that. You figure out some other way.
Even in high school, a rule that permits only one point of view to be expressed is less likely to produce correct answers than the open discussion of countervailing views.
Research shows that children do better in school and are less likely to drop out when fathers are involved. Engaged parents can strengthen communities, mentor and tutor students, and demonstrate through their actions how much they value their children's education.
In England ... education produces no effect whatsoever. If it did, it would prove a serious danger to the upper classes, and would probably lead to acts of violence in Grosvenor Square.
Never sit staring at a blank page or screen. If you find yourself stuck, write. Write about the scene you're trying to write. Writing about is easier than writing, and chances are, it will give you your way in.
School has become the world religion of a modernized proletariat, and makes futile promises of salvation to the poor of the technological age.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.