Fifty quotations inspire education and learning

Education and learning are tools of empowerment; they matter. They enable analytical thinking, innovation, and adaptability. True education and learning are essential elements of 21st century society for every individual, every beginning and lifelong learner. Education and learning bring zest to life, for as writer and educator Edith Hamilton indicated, “To be able to be caught up into the world of thought – that is being educated.”

Quotations

Following are quotations that reflect on the nature of true learning with its innate, inspiring quality, a power described by Irish poet William Butler Yeats as “Education is not filling a bucket, but lighting a fire.” Education is deeply transformational, and its power affects the essential, human tapestry of life and society. The following quotations are not place in order of importance as that would be impossible.

1. “Even the smallest person can change the course of the future.” -- British author, J.R.R. Tolkien
2. “A child miseducated is a child lost.” -- Former U.S. President John F. Kennedy
3. “All of us do not have equal talent, but all of us should have equal opportunity.” -- Former U.S. President John F. Kennedy
4. “Education sows not seeds in you, but makes your seeds grow.” -- Lebanese-American writer and poet, Kahlil Gibran
5. “If we are to teach real peace in this world, and if we are to carry on a real war against war, we shall have to begin with the children.” -- Indian philosopher and leader, Mahatma Ghandi
6. “Children must be taught how to think, not what to think.” -- American anthropologist, Margaret Mead
7. “What we want is to see the child in pursuit of knowledge, and not knowledge in pursuit of the child.” Nobel Prize-winning, English writer, George Bernard Shaw
8. “Man’s mind stretched to a new idea never goes back to its original dimensions.” -- U.S. Supreme Court Justice, Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.
9. “My education was the liberty I had to read indiscriminately and all the time, with my eyes hanging out.” -- Welsh poet, Dylan Thomas
10. “The brain is a muscle that can move the world.” -- American writer, Stephen King
11. “The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.” -- American futurist, Alvin Toffler
12. “Just think of the tragedy of teaching children not to doubt.” -- American lawyer, Clarence Darrow
13. “The job of an educator is to teach students to see vitality in themselves.” -- American anthropologist and mythologist, Joseph Campbell
14. “It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge.” -- Nobel Prize-winning, American scientist, Albert Einstein
15. “The important thing is not to stop questioning.” -- Nobel Prize-winning, American scientist, Albert Einstein
16. “What did you ask at school today?” -- Nobel Prize-winning, American scientist, Richard Fenyman
17. “Not all those who wander are lost.” -- British author, J.R.R. Tolkien
18. “I believe in anything that works.” -- Armenian-American author, William Saroyan
19. “The teacher must derive not only the capacity, but the desire, to observe natural phenomena.” -- Italian physician and educator, Maria Montessori
20. “We live on the leash of our senses.” -- American poet, Diane Ackerman
21. “During the first period of a man’s life, the greatest danger is not to take the risk.” -- Danish philosopher, Soren Kierkegaard
22. “Tell me and I’ll forget; show me and I may remember; involve me and I’ll understand.” -- Chinese proverb
23. “I am always ready to learn although I do not always like being taught.” -- Nobel Prize-winning English statesman, Winston Churchill
24. “While a significant part of learning certain comes from teaching – but good teaching and by good teachers – a major measure comes from exploration, from reinventing the wheel and finding out for oneself.” -- Founder and Director of the MIT Media Lab, Nicholas Negroponte
25. “I shut my eyes in order to see.” -- French artist, Paul Gauguin
26. “The real voyage of discovery consists not in new landscapes, but in having new eyes.” -- French author, Marcel Proust
27. “The secret in education lies in respecting the student.” -- American writer, Ralph Waldo Emerson
28. “The things taught in colleges and schools are not an education, but the means of education.” -- American writer, Ralph Waldo Emerson
29. “Education is not a preparation for life; education is life, itself.” -- American philosopher and educator, John Dewey
30. “I never let schooling interfere with my education.” -- American writer, Mark Twain
31. “In today’s knowledge-based economy, what you earn depends on what you learn.” -- Former U.S. President, William J. Clinton
32. “Our progress as a nation can be no swifter than our progress in education.” -- Former U.S. President John F. Kennedy
33. “Education is the most powerful weapon you can use to change the world.” -- Nobel Prize-winning, South African leader, Nelson Mandela
34. “The liberally educated person is one who is able to resist the easy and preferred answers, not because he is obstinate, but because he knows others worthy of consideration.” -- American philosopher, Allan Bloom
35. “Learning without thought is labor lost; thought without learning is perilous.” -- Chinese philosopher, Confucius
36. “In the field of observation, chance favors the prepared mind.” -- French chemist, Louis Pasteur
37. “Why should society feel responsible only for the education of children, and not for the education of all adults of every age?” -- German psychologist, Erich Fromm
38. “Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning stays young.” -- Ford Motor Company founder, Henry Ford
39. “When a subject becomes totally obsolete, we make it a required course.” -- American management consultant, Peter Drucker
40. “If we value the pursuit of knowledge, we must be free to follow wherever that search may lead us. The free mind is no barking dog to be tethered on a 10 foot chain.” -- American diplomat, Adlai Stevenson
41. “When you stop learning, stop listening, stop looking and asking questions, always new questions, then it is time to die.” -- American writer, Lillian Smith
42. “Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.” -- Indian philosopher and leader, Mahatma Ghandi
43. “The beautiful thing about learning is that no one can take it away from you.” -- American musician, B.B. King
44. “Do not seek to follow in the footseps of the men of old; seek what they sought.” -- Japanese poet, Matsuo Basho
45. “This bridge will only take you halfway there. The last few steps you’ll have to take alone.” -- American poet, Shel Silverstein
46. “Knowledge is Life with wings.” -- Lebanese-American writer and poet, Kahlil Gibran
47. “If the doors of perception were cleansed, everything would be seen as it is, infinite.” -- British poet, William Blake
48. “Vision is the art of seeing the invisible.” -- Anglo-Irish writer, Jonathan Swift
49. “It had something to do with love.” -- Chinese-American poet, Li-Young Lee
50. “Learning is a treasure that will follow its owner everywhere." -- Chinese proverb

Quotations capture essential insights

The best quotations are brilliant and succinct rays of light. They cast a bright beam to penetrate into a complex territory. This fresh collection of education quotations, from ancient to modern sources, from scientists, educators, national leaders, and poets, highlights how learning and knowledge open up the essential human journey.

For further exploration, examine "Forty quotations for writing inspiration," "Twelve, penetrating quotations on creativity," "Twelve, essential nature quotations," and "Essential quotations on business innovation."

Find the take in this article to be helpful? National and Local Education as well as National and International Travel materials come from a husband and wife team, who travel extensively as published writers and photographers. One is an experienced scientist with a doctorate in Material Sciences and background in pharmaceutical and optics research. The other is former Vice President of GKE, who served as a US Web-based Education Commissioner during the Clinton administration, and was a former US National Tech&Learning Teacher of the Year. To keep current on similar articles, view the suggested links below and click the free, subscribe link at the top of this article.