Inspirational Quotations

Inspirational Quotes by Mortimer J. Adler (American Philosopher, Educator)

Mortimer J. Adler (1902–2001,) fully Mortimer Jerome Adler, was an American philosopher and educator. He was a steadfast advocate of liberal education through the study of the classics and great books of the Western world.

Born in New York City, Adler studied philosophy at Columbia, became an instructor there, and then a professor of the philosophy of law at the University of Chicago. He held seminars on great books, and eventually developed the idea for a 54-volume set, Great Books of the Western World (1952,) published by the Encyclopedia Britannica Company. He argued for an integrated and multidisciplinary approach to philosophy, politics, religion, law, and education.

Adler disapproved of the multi-track system of American education, where students are divided according to their abilities. He promoted a single program for all students to improve the curriculum, serve the needs of the brightest students, and raise the skills of the less advantaged. Adler’s proposal for revolutionizing American education was opposed by such educational theorists as John Dewey and Sidney Hook, with whom Adler engaged in lively polemical debates.

In 1952, Adler became a director of the Institute for Philosophical Research, which prepared The Idea of Freedom (2 vol., 1958–61.) His books include How to Read a Book (1940; 1972,) A Dialectic of Morals (1941,) The Capitalist Manifesto (1958,) The Revolution in Education (1958,) Aristotle for Everyone (1978,) How to Think About God (1980,) Six Great Ideas (1981,) How to Speak, How to Listen: A Guide to Pleasurable and Profitable Conversation (1983,) and Ten Philosophical Mistakes (1985.)

Adler was the chairperson of the Encyclopædia Britannica’s Board of Editors 1974–95. His memoirs are Philosopher at Large: An Intellectual Autobiography (1977) and A Second Look in the Rearview Mirror (1992.)

More: Wikipedia READ: Works by Mortimer J. Adler

In the case of good books, the point is not to see how many of them you can get through, but rather how many can get through to you.
Mortimer J. Adler
Topics: Books, Reading

The ultimate end of education is happiness or a good human life, a life enriched by the possession of every kind of good, by the enjoyment of every type of satisfaction.
Mortimer J. Adler
Topics: Enjoyment

Habits are formed by the repetition of particular acts. They are strengthened by an increase in the number of repeated acts. Habits are also weakened or broken, and contrary habits are formed by the repetition of contrary acts.
Mortimer J. Adler
Topics: Habits, Habit

You have to allow a certain amount of time in which you are doing nothing in order to have things occur to you, to let your mind think.
Mortimer J. Adler

Exclusive preference for either the past or the present is a foolish and wasteful form of snobbishness and provinciality.
Mortimer J. Adler

There is only one situation I can think of in which men and women make an effort to read better than they usually do. [It is] when they are in love and reading a love letter.
Mortimer J. Adler
Topics: Effort

The telephone book is full of facts, but it doesn’t contain a single idea.
Mortimer J. Adler
Topics: Just for Fun, Information

The purpose of learning is growth, and our minds, unlike our bodies, can continue growing as we continue to live.
Mortimer J. Adler
Topics: Learning

Freedom is the emancipation from the arbitrary rule of other men.
Mortimer J. Adler
Topics: Independence, Freedom

Reading is a basic tool in the living of a good life.
Mortimer J. Adler
Topics: Reading, Books

Love wishes to perpetuate itself. Love wishes for immortality.
Mortimer J. Adler
Topics: Wishes

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