Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Comment on this quoteShare via Email Print this Page Daily Quotes Archives2006-06-26 Jun 26, 2006Nations crumble from within when the citizenry asks of government those things which the citizenry might better provide for itself. ... [I] hope we have once again reminded people that man is not free unless government is limited. There's a clear cause and effect here that is as neat and predictable as a law of physics: As government expands, liberty contracts.~ Ronald ReaganI wouldn't call it fascism exactly, but a political system nominally controlled by an irresponsible, dumbed down electorate who are manipulated by dishonest, cynical, controlled mass media that dispense the propaganda of a corrupt political establishment can hardly be described as democracy either.~ Edward ZehrRepublics are created by the virtue, public spirit, and intelligence of the citizens. They fall, when the wise are banished from the public councils, because they dare to be honest, and the profligate are rewarded, because they flatter the people, in order to betray them.~ Justice Joseph Story Jun 23, 2006I begin by taking. I shall find scholars later to demonstrate my perfect right.~ Frederick the GreatHistory will be kind to me for I intend to write it.~ Sir Winston ChurchillBelieve nothing merely because you have been told it. Do not believe what your teacher tells you merely out of respect for the teacher. But whatsoever, after due examination and analysis, you find to be kind, conducive to the good, the benefit, the welfare of all beings -- that doctrine believe and cling to, and take it as your guide.~ Buddha Jun 22, 2006It seems now that the place where you see the most obvious censorship is on college campuses --- the precise place where you would expect to see the least.~ Alan Charles KorsCollege isn't the place to go for ideas.~ Helen KellerA university’s essential character is that of being a center of free inquiry and criticism – a thing not to be sacrificed for anything else.~ Richard Hofstadter Jun 21, 2006The test of every religious, political, or educational system, is the man which it forms. If a system injures the intelligence it is bad. If it injures the character it is vicious. If it injures the conscience it is criminal.~ Henri Frederic AmielWhat I want to fix your attention on is the vast overall movement towards the discrediting, and finally the elimination, of every kind of human excellence -- moral, cultural, social or intellectual. And is it not pretty to notice how 'democracy' (in the incantatory sense) is now doing for us the work that was once done by the most ancient dictatorships, and by the same methods?... The basic principle of the new education is to be that dunces and idlers must not be made to feel inferior to intelligent and industrious pupils. That would be "undemocratic." ... Children who are fit to proceed to a higher class may be artificially kept back, because the others would get a trauma — Beelzebub, what a useful word! — by being left behind. The bright pupil thus remains democratically fettered to his own age group throughout his school career, and a boy who would be capable of tackling Aeschylus or Dante sits listening to his coeval's attempts to spell out A CAT SAT ON A MAT. ... We may reasonably hope for the virtual abolition of education when "I'm as good as you" has fully had its way. All incentives to learn and all penalties for not learning will vanish. The few who might want to learn will be prevented; who are they to over-top their fellows? And anyway the teachers — or should I say, nurses? — will be far too busy reassuring the dunces and patting them on the back to waste any time on real teaching. We shall no longer have to plan and toil to spread imperturbable conceit and incurable ignorance among men.~ C. S. LewisAny formal attack on ignorance is bound to fail because the masses are always ready to defend their most precious possession -- their ignorance.~ Hendrik van Loon Jun 20, 2006The philosophy of the classroom today will be the philosophy of government tomorrow.~ Abraham LincolnIt has been discovered that the best way to insure implicit obedience is to commence tyranny in the nursery.~ Benjamin DisraeliThe sovereignty fetish is still so strong in the public mind, that there would appear to be little chance of winning popular assent to American membership in anything approaching a super-state organization. Much will depend on the kind of approach which is used in further popular education.~ Council on Foreign Relations Previous week's quotes Next week's quotes Share on Facebook Tweet Email Print