Reading furnishes the mind only with materials for knowledge; it is thinking that makes what we read ours.

Reading furnishes the mind only with materials for knowledge; it is thinking that makes what we read ours.

Far more crucial than what we know or do not know is what we do not want to know. One read more

Far more crucial than what we know or do not know is what we do not want to know. One often obtains a clue to a person's nature by discovering the reasons for his or her imperviousness to certain impressions.

The greatest people will be those who possess the best capacities, cultivated with the best habits.

The greatest people will be those who possess the best capacities, cultivated with the best habits.

From the saintly and single-minded idealist to the fanatic is often but a step.

From the saintly and single-minded idealist to the fanatic is often but a step.

Compared with the totality of knowledge which is continually utilized in the evolution of a dynamic civilization, the difference between read more

Compared with the totality of knowledge which is continually utilized in the evolution of a dynamic civilization, the difference between the knowledge that the wisest and that which the most ignorant individual can deliberately employ is comparatively insignificant.

...there is no alienation that a little power will not cure.

...there is no alienation that a little power will not cure.

It is generally recognized that creativity requires leisure, an absence of rush, time for the mind and imagination to float read more

It is generally recognized that creativity requires leisure, an absence of rush, time for the mind and imagination to float and wander and roam, time for the individual to descend into the depths of his or her psyche, to be available to barely audible signals rustling for attention. Long periods of time may pass in which nothing seems to be happening. But we know that kind of space must be created if the mind is to leap out of its accustomed ruts, to part from the mechanical, the known, the familiar, the standard, and generate a leap into the new.

There is no great concurrence between learning and wisdom.

There is no great concurrence between learning and wisdom.

The unphilosophical majority among men are the ones most helplessly dependent on their era's dominant ideas. In times of crises read more

The unphilosophical majority among men are the ones most helplessly dependent on their era's dominant ideas. In times of crises these men need the guidance of some kind of theory; but, being unfamiliar with the field of ideas, they do not know that alternatives to the popular theories are possible. They know only what they have always been taught.