The Quotation IndexThe trusted reference for quotations and the sources behind them
Category Education

Featured Quote in Education

Knowlege is power.
Thomas Jefferson Letter to George Ticknor · 1817

Subcategories

Learning (46) Teaching (6) Universities (1) Schools (1) Scholarship (3) Childhood (0) Literacy (0) Examinations (2)

Education Quotes

“Knowlege is power.”

Thomas Jefferson · Letter to George Ticknor, 1817 · Primary source

“I think a life properly lived is just learn, learn, learn all the time.”

Charlie Munger · 2017 Berkshire Hathaway Annual Meeting, 2017 · Primary source

“Education is that which remains, if one has forgotten everything he learned in school.”

Albert Einstein · Ideas and Opinions , 1954 · Primary source

“Experience keeps a dear school, yet fools will learn in no other.”

Benjamin Franklin · Poor Richard’s Almanack, 1732-1758 · Primary source

“The years teach much which the days never know.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson · Experience, 1844 · Primary source

“In my whole life, I have known no wise people (over a broad subject matter) who didn’t read all the time—none, zero. You’d be amazed how much Warren reads—and at how much I read. My children laugh at me. They think I’m a book with a couple of legs sticking out.”

Charlie Munger · Poor Charlie’s Almanack, 2005 · Primary source

“Few skills are more important than knowing how to distinguish what’s true from what’s false.”

Bill Gates · The Risks of AI are Real but Manageable, 2023 · Primary source

“It is, in fact, nothing short of a miracle that the modern methods of instruction have not yet entirely strangled the holy curiosity of inquiry; for this delicate little plant, aside from stimulation, stands mainly in need of freedom; without this it goes to wrack and ruin without fail.”

Albert Einstein · Autobiographical Notes, 1949 · Primary source

“The thing to do is not to get scared, but to learn.”

Ayn Rand · Atlas Shrugged, 1957 · Primary source

“We may give advice, but we cannot give conduct.”

Benjamin Franklin · Poor Richard’s Almanack, 1732-1758 · Primary source

“Those who will not be counselled, cannot be helped.”

Benjamin Franklin · The Way to Wealth, 1758 · Primary source

“Books are the treasured wealth of the world and the fit inheritance of generations and nations.”

Henry David Thoreau · Walden, 1849 · Primary source

“Mankind invented a system to cope with the fact that we are so intrinsically lousy at manipulating numbers. It’s called the graph.”

Charlie Munger · Poor Charlie’s Almanack, 2005 · Primary source

“Finally, I said that I couldn’t see how anyone could he educated by this self-propagating system in which people pass exams, and teach others to pass exams, but nobody knows anything.”

Richard Feynman · Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!, 1985 · Primary source

“Books are the best of things, well used; abused, among the worst. What is the right use? What is the one end which all means go to effect? They are for nothing but to inspire.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson · The American Scholar, 1837 · Primary source

“A good example is the best sermon.”

Benjamin Franklin · Poor Richard’s Almanack, 1732-1758 · Primary source

“None preaches better than the ant, and she says nothing.”

Benjamin Franklin · Poor Richard’s Almanack, 1732-1758 · Primary source

“Success is the result of making many mistakes and learning from experience.”

Winston Churchill · You do your worst—and we will do our best, 1941 · Primary source

“Being ignorant is not so much a shame, as being unwilling to learn.”

Benjamin Franklin · Poor Richard’s Almanack, 1732-1758 · Primary source

“Reading was the only amusement I allowed myself.”

Benjamin Franklin · The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, 1771-1790 · Primary source

“How many a man has dated a new era in his life from the reading of a book.”

Henry David Thoreau · Walden, 1849 · Primary source

“That which each can do best, none but his Maker can teach him.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson · Self-Reliance, 1841 · Primary source

“The wise man draws more advantage from his enemies, than the fool from his friends.”

Benjamin Franklin · Poor Richard’s Almanack, 1732-1758 · Primary source

“He who has put forth his total strength in fit actions has the richest return of wisdom.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson · The American Scholar, 1837 · Primary source

“An assessment at one point in time has little value for understanding someone’s ability, let alone their potential to succeed in the future.”

Carol S. Dweck · Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, 2006 · Primary source

“Tim was so learned, that he could name a horse in nine languages. So ignorant, that he bought a cow to ride on.”

Benjamin Franklin · Poor Richard’s Almanack, 1732-1758 · Primary source

“Genius without education is like silver in the mine.”

Benjamin Franklin · Poor Richard’s Almanack, 1732-1758 · Primary source

“Human resources are the most valuable assets the world has. They are all needed desperately.”

Eleanor Roosevelt · Tomorrow is Now, 1963 · Primary source

“Today is yesterday’s pupil.”

Benjamin Franklin · Poor Richard’s Almanack, 1732-1758 · Primary source

“We are by nature observers, and thereby learners. This is our permanent state.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson · Love, 1841 · Primary source

“Just as eating against one’s will is injurious to health, so study without a liking for it spoils the memory, and it retains nothing it takes in.”

Leonardo da Vinci · The Notebooks of Leonardo Da Vinci, 1888 · Primary source

“Life is our dictionary.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson · The American Scholar, 1837 · Primary source

“If you cannot read them [books], at any rate handle them and, as it were, fondle them. Peer into them. Let them fall open where they will. Read on from the first sentence that arrests the eye. Then turn to another. Make a voyage of discovery, taking soundings of uncharted seas. Set them back on their shelves with your own hands. Arrange them on your own plan, so that if you do not know what is in them, you at least know where they are. If they cannot be your friends, let them at any rate be your acquaintances. If they cannot enter the circle of your life, do not deny them at least a nod of recognition.”

Winston Churchill · Painting as a Pastime, 1948 · Primary source

“Just as food eaten without caring for it is turned into loathsome nourishment, so study without a taste for it spoils memory, by retaining nothing which it has taken in.”

Leonardo da Vinci · The Notebooks of Leonardo Da Vinci, 1888 · Primary source

“The only rational way of educating is to be an example—if one can’t help it, a warning example.”

Albert Einstein · Ideas and Opinions , 1954 · Primary source

“A fine genius in his own country, is like gold in the mine.”

Benjamin Franklin · Poor Richard’s Almanack, 1732-1758 · Primary source

“The three practical rules, then, which I have to offer, are: 1. Never read any book that is not a year old. 2. Never read any but famed books. 3. Never read any but what you like.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson · Books, 1870 · Primary source

“I don’t know what’s the matter with people: they don’t learn by understanding; they learn by some other way—by rote, or something. Their knowledge is so fragile!”

Richard Feynman · Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!, 1985 · Primary source

“Society hopes that teachers will not neglect their teaching responsibilities but rewards them almost entirely for research and publications. This is most true at the large and prestigious universities.”

Steven Kerr · On the Folly of Rewarding A, While Hoping for B, 1975 · Primary source

“Striving for perfection is ultimately the only justification for the academic enterprise; if you don’t feel comfortable with this goal—e.g. because you think it too presumptuous—, stay out!”

Edsger Dijkstra · Advice to a Young Scientist, c. 1989 · Primary source

“Just as iron rusts unless it is used, and water putrifies or, in cold, turns to ice, so our intellect spoils unless it is kept in use.”

Leonardo da Vinci · The Notebooks of Leonardo Da Vinci, 1888 · Primary source

“The highest result of education is tolerance.”

Helen Keller · Optimism, 1903 · Primary source

“I am reminded of the professor who in his declining hours was asked by his devoted pupils for his final counsel. He replied, Verify your quotations.”

Winston Churchill · The Second World War, 1948-1953 · Primary source

“Books must be read as deliberately and reservedly as they were written.”

Henry David Thoreau · Walden, 1849 · Primary source

“In comparing the number of good books with the shortness of life, many might well be read by proxy, if we had good proxies.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson · Books, 1870 · Primary source

“We will walk on our own feet; we will work with our own hands; we will speak our own minds.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson · The American Scholar, 1837 · Primary source

“I’m a very big believer in equal opportunity as opposed to equal outcome. I don’t believe in equal outcome because unfortunately life’s not like that. It would be a pretty boring place if it was. But I really believe in equal opportunity. Equal opportunity to me more than anything means a great education.”

Steve Jobs · Smithsonian Oral and Video Histories: Steve Jobs, 1995 · Primary source

“Example is the best lesson there is.”

Eleanor Roosevelt · Tomorrow is Now, 1963 · Primary source

“Practice is nine tenths.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson · Power, 1860 · Primary source

“I learned very early the difference between knowing the name of something and knowing something.”

Richard Feynman · What Do You Care What Other People Think?, 1986 · Primary source

“At Harvard Business School, the great quantitative thing that bonds the first-year class together is what they call decision tree theory. All they do is take high school algebra and apply it to real-life problems. And the students love it. They’re amazed to find that high school algebra works in life.”

Charlie Munger · Poor Charlie’s Almanack, 2005 · Primary source

“An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest.”

Benjamin Franklin · No reliable source

“Learning never exhausts the mind.”

Leonardo da Vinci · No reliable source

David: “What do you read?”, Gates: “The Economist, every page. Also The Wall Street Journal and Business Week. And I read Time. If I’m traveling, every once in a while I’ll pick up an issue of People. I read USA Today.”

Bill Gates · Playboy Interview: Bill Gates, 1994 · Primary source

“In the field of observations, chance favors only the prepared mind.”

Louis Pasteur · Lecture, University of Lille, 1854 · Primary source

“The axiom that you learn more from your failures than your successes is trite but absolutely true.”

Bill Gates · Source Code, 2025 · Primary source

“We are not afraid to follow truth wherever it may lead.”

Thomas Jefferson · Letter to William Roscoe, 1820 · Primary source

“Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning.”

Bill Gates · Business @ the Speed of Thought, 1999 · Primary source

“If the use of leisure time is confined to looking at TV for a few extra hours every day, we will deteriorate as a people.”

Eleanor Roosevelt · My Day, 1935-1962 · Primary source

“I simply experiment, an endless seeker, with no Past at my back.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson · Circles, 1841 · Primary source

“Science is a wonderful thing if one does not have to earn a living at it. One should earn one’s living by work of which one is sure one is capable. Only when we do not have to be accountable to anyone can we find joy in scientific endeavor.”

Albert Einstein · Letter to E. Holzapfel, 1951 · Primary source

“What is the central core of the subject [computer science]? What is it that distinguishes it from the separate subjects with which it is related? What is the linking thread which gathers these disparate branches into a single discipline? My answer to these questions is simple—it is the art of programming a computer.”

Tony Hoare · Computer Science, 1971 · Primary source

“Wisdom is the daughter of experience.”

Leonardo da Vinci · The Notebooks of Leonardo Da Vinci, 1888 · Primary source

“To be rich is to have a ticket of admission to the masterworks and chief men of each race. It is to have the sea, by voyaging; to visit the mountains, Niagara, the Nile, the desert, Rome, Paris, Constantinople; to see galleries, libraries, arsenals, manufactories.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson · Wealth, 1860 · Primary source

“Fear always springs from ignorance.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson · The American Scholar, 1837 · Primary source

“If you don’t get elementary probability into your repertoire, you go through a long life like a one-legged man in an ass-kicking contest.”

Charlie Munger · Poor Charlie’s Almanack, 2005 · Primary source

“If you always tell people why, they’ll understand it better, they’ll consider it more important, and they’ll be more likely to comply. Even if they don’t understand your reason, they’ll be more likely to comply.”

Charlie Munger · Poor Charlie’s Almanack, 2005 · Primary source

“Our game is recognize a big idea when it comes along, when one doesn’t come along very often. Opportunity comes to the prepared mind.”

Charlie Munger · Poor Charlie’s Almanack, 2005 · Primary source

“In a library we are surrounded by many hundreds of dear friends, but they are imprisoned by an enchanter in these paper and leathern boxes; and though they know us, and have been waiting two, ten, or twenty centuries for us.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson · Books, 1870 · Primary source

“It is commonly observed, that a sudden wealth, like a prize drawn in a lottery, or a large bequest to a poor family, does not permanently enrich. They have served no apprenticeship to wealth, and, with the rapid wealth, come rapid claims: which they do not know how to deny, and the treasure is quickly dissipated.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson · Wealth, 1860 · Primary source

“I would study, I would know, I would admire forever.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson · Harvard Divinity School Address, 1838 · Primary source

“The one thing in the world of value is the active soul.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson · The American Scholar, 1837 · Primary source

“Any one who in discussion relies upon authority uses, not his understanding, but rather his memory.”

Leonardo da Vinci · The Notebooks of Leonardo Da Vinci, 1888 · Primary source

“There is no knowledge that is not power.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson · Old Age, 1870 · Primary source

“Good criticism is very rare, and always precious.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson · Culture, 1860 · Primary source

“What is the hardest task in the world? To think.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson · Intellect, 1841 · Primary source

“In mathematics, you very seldom get the clearest account of an idea from the person who invented it.”

Jordan Ellenberg · How Not to Be Wrong, 2015 · Primary source

“Truth is our element of life, yet if a man fasten his attention on a single aspect of truth, and apply himself to that alone for a long time, the truth becomes distorted and not itself, but falsehood.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson · Intellect, 1841 · Primary source

“I visit occasionally the Cambridge Library, and I can seldom go there without renewing the conviction that the best of it all is already within the four walls of my study at home.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson · Books, 1870 · Primary source

“It [using ChatGPT in schools] reminds me of the time when electronic calculators became widespread in the 1970s and 1980s. Some math teachers worried that students would stop learning how to do basic arithmetic, but others embraced the new technology and focused on the thinking skills behind the arithmetic.”

Bill Gates · The Risks of AI are Real but Manageable, 2023 · Primary source

“One of the best ways of enslaving a people is to keep them from education… The second way of enslaving a people is to suppress the sources of information, not only by burning books, but by controlling all the other ways in which ideas are transmitted.”

Eleanor Roosevelt · My Day, 1935-1962 · Primary source

“Compound interest is the eighth wonder of the world. He who understands it, earns it. He who doesn’t, pays it.”

Albert Einstein · No reliable source

“I prefer to talk with children, for one may still dare to hope that they may become rational beings; but those who have become that—good Lord!”

Søren Kierkegaard · Either/Or, 1843 · Primary source

Explore the category

Education

8 subcategories · 17 authors · 30 works · 162 themes · 256 tags
Authors
Albert Einstein Theoretical physicistBenjamin Franklin American statesmanBill Gates American Entrepreneur and Philanthropist
Works
Autobiographical Notes Albert Einstein · 1949Ideas and Opinions Albert Einstein · 1954Poor Richard’s Almanack Benjamin Franklin · 1732-1758
Themes
Continuous learningExperience as a source of improvementInterest and learning
Tags
LearningCuriosityExperienceKnowledge
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