Quote

I was accorded the opportunity to learn by failing - albeit at the cost of a few honourable teachers' sanity - and now I realise what a rare and incredible luxury that is.

Scholastic learning and polemical divinity retarded the growth of all true knowledge.

I had an instinct to gravitate towards people who were smarter than I was, teachers that were nice people that were trying to do things in life that were constructive, and that's what I gravitated to instead of what I saw and what I was in.

To penetrate and dissipate these clouds of darkness, the general mind must be strengthened by education.

Time, place, and action may with pains be wrought, but genius must be born; and never can be taught.

The ideal of an all-sided education for youth had always been close to my heart. I saw clearly the arid results of ordinary instruction, aimed only at the development of body and intellect.

I could never have a better teacher in those days than my father.

Under these conditions it is not astonishing that learning was highly prized; in fact, my parents made sacrifices to be able to give their children a good education.

My success was not based so much on any great intelligence but on great common sense.

The teacher who is indeed wise does not bid you to enter the house of his wisdom but rather leads you to the threshold of your mind.