Minerva House was “a finishing establishment for young ladies,” where some twenty girls of the ages from thirteen to nineteen inclusive, acquired a smattering of everything and a knowledge of nothing.
—Charles Dickens (1812–70) English Novelist
Example is the school of mankind, and they will learn at no other.
—Edmund Burke (1729–97) British Philosopher, Statesman
Thank goodness I was never sent to school it would have rubbed off some of the originality.
—Beatrix Potter (1866–1943) British Children’s Author, Illustrator
The first idea that the child must acquire, in order to be actively disciplined, is that of the difference between good and evil; and the task of the educator lies in seeing that the child does not confound good with immobility, and evil with activity.
—Maria Montessori (1870–1952) Italian Physician, Educator
Probably the battle of Waterloo was won on the playing-fields of Eton, but the opening battles of all subsequent wars have been lost there.
—George Orwell (1903–50) English Novelist, Journalist
No one can look back on his schooldays and say with truth that they were altogether unhappy.
—George Orwell (1903–50) English Novelist, Journalist
I have found it; I have discovered the cause of all the misfortunes which befell him. A public school, Joseph, was the cause of all the calamities which he afterwards suffered. Public schools are the nurseries of all vice and immorality.
—Henry Fielding (1707–54) English Novelist, Dramatist
No trace of slavery ought to mix with the studies of the freeborn man. No study, pursued under compulsion, remains rooted in the memory.
—Plato (428 BCE–347 BCE) Greek Philosopher, Mathematician, Educator
What we must look for here is, firstly, religious and moral principles; secondly, gentlemanly conduct; thirdly, intellectual ability.
—Thomas Arnold (1795–1842) English Educationalist
Failure is a school in which the truth always grows strong.
—Henry Ward Beecher (1813–87) American Clergyman, Writer
A child educated only at school is an uneducated child.
—George Santayana (1863–1952) Spanish-American Poet, Philosopher
You can’t learn in school what the world is going to do next year.
—Henry Ford (1863–1947) American Businessperson, Engineer
It is always safe to learn, even from our enemies, seldom safe to venture to instruct, even our friends.
—Charles Caleb Colton (c.1780–1832) English Clergyman, Aphorist
You can acquire a lot of knowledge without ever going to school.
—William Glasser (1925–2013) American Psychiatrist, Author, Speaker
Some people unable to go to school were more educated and even more intelligent than college professors.
—Maya Angelou (1928–2014) American Poet
A private school has all the faults of a public school without any of its compensations.
—Cyril Connolly (1903–74) British Literary Critic, Writer
In the schoolroom her quick mind had taken readily that strong starch of unexplained rules and disconnected facts which saves ignorance from any painful sense of limpness.
—George Eliot (Mary Anne Evans) (1819–80) English Novelist
The philosophy of the school room in one generation will be the philosophy of government in the next.
—Abraham Lincoln (1809–65) American Head of State
The difference between school and life? In school, you’re taught a lesson and then given a test. In life, you’re given a test that teaches you a lesson.
—Tom Bodett (b.1955) American Humorist, Radio Host
I was asked to memorize what I did not understand; and, my memory being so good, it refused to be insulted in that manner.
—Aleister Crowley (1875–1947) English Occultist, Mystic, Magician
If there were no schools to take the children away from home part of the time, the insane asylums would be filled with mothers.
—E. W. Howe (1853–1937) American Novelist, Editor
Education is what remains after one has forgotten what one has learned in school.
—Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born Physicist
Experience keeps a dear school; but fools will learn in no other, and scarce in that; for it is true, we may give advice, but we cannot give conduct.
—Benjamin Franklin (1706–90) American Political Leader, Inventor, Diplomat
He who opens a school door, closes a prison.
—Victor Hugo (1802–85) French Novelist
The chief reason for going to school is to get the impression fixed for life that there is a book side for everything.
—Robert Frost (1874–1963) American Poet
The school is the last expenditure upon which America should be willing to economize.
—Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945) American Head of State, Lawyer
A school without football is in danger of deteriorating into a medieval study hall.
—Vince Lombardi, Jr. (b.1942) American Lawyer, Politician, Motivational Speaker
School divides life into two segments, which are increasingly of comparable length. As much as anything else, schooling implies custodial care for persons who are declared undesirable elsewhere by the simple fact that a school has been built to serve them.
—Ivan Illich (1926–2002) Austrian Philosopher, Theologian
My plan of instruction is extremely simple and limited. They learn, on week-days, such coarse works as may fit them for servants. I allow of no writing for the poor. My object is not to make fanatics, but to train up the lower classes in habits of industry and piety.
—Hannah More
What students lack in school is an intellectual relationship or conversation with the teacher.
—William Glasser (1925–2013) American Psychiatrist, Author, Speaker
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