Mortimer J. Adler quotes: wise famous quotes, sayings and quotations by Mortimer J. Adler

Mortimer J. Adler Famous Quotes & Sayings

Discover top inspirational quotes from Mortimer J. Adler on Wise Famous Quotes.

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.

A person who has read widely but not well deserves to be pitied rather than praised. As

Even when you have been somewhat enlightened by what you have read, you are called upon to continue the serach for significance.

The possession of the truth is the highest goal of the human mind.

The purpose of learning is growth, and our minds, unlike our bodies, can continue growing as we continue to live.

The undemanding reader asks no questions-and gets no answers.

But it may be seriously questioned whether the advent of modern communications media has much enhanced our understanding of the world

The truly great books are the few books that are over everybody's head all of the time.

A good rule always describes the ideal performance.

Reading and the Democratic Ideal of Education

The beauty of any work of art is related to the pleasure it gives us when we know it well.

Scientific objectivity is not the absence of initial bias. It is attained by frank confession of it.

Think of yourself as a detective looking for clues to a book's general theme or idea, alert for anything that will make it clearer.

Reading a book should be a conversation between you and the author.

If you never ask yourself any questions about the meaning of a passage, you cannot expect the book to give you any insight you don't already possess

There is no inactive learning, just as there is no inactive reading.

All books will become light in proportion as you find light in them.

Books are absent teachers.

Understanding is a two-way operation; the learner has to question himself and question the teacher.

The complexities of adult life get in the way of the truth.

The First Level of Reading: Elementary Reading

TURN THE PAGES, DIPPING IN HERE AND THERE, READING A PARAGRAPH OR TWO, SOMETIMES SEVERAL PAGES IN SEQUENCE, NEVER MORE THAN THAT.

The student can read as fast as his mind will let him, not as slow as his eyes make him.

Every book should be read no more slowly than it deserves, and no more quickly than you can read it with satisfaction and comprehension.

You cannot begin to deal with terms, propositions, and arguments - the elements of thought - until you can penetrate beneath the surface of language.

From your point of view as a reader, therefore, the most important words are those that give you trouble.

one learns to do by doing.

True freedom is impossible without a mind made free by discipline.

To use a good book as a sedative is conspicuous waste.

Sometimes it feels like I'm thinking against the wind.

Wonder is the beginning of wisdom in learning from books as well as from nature.

Any good argument can be put into a nutshell. There

To agree without understanding is inane. To disagree without understanding is impudent.

The great authors were great readers, and one way to understand them is to read the books they read.

Now there is no other way of forming a habit of operation than by operating.

If an author does not give reasons for his propositions, they can only be treated as expressions of personal opinion on his part.

You must be able to say "I understand," before you can say "I agree," or "I disagree," or "I suspend judgment.

Don't try to resist the effect that a work of imaginative literature has on you.

A book is a work of art. (Again,

The mind can atrophy, like the muscles, if it is not used.

The person who says he knows what he thinks but cannot express it usually does not know what he thinks.

In judging a practical book, everything turns on the ends or goals.

The reader who fails to ponder, or at least mark, the words he does not understand is headed for disaster.

Good books are over your head; they would not be good for you if they were not.

It is only when you try to refine the obvious, and give the distinctions greater precision, that you get into difficulties. For

In short, we can only learn from our "betters".

The first stage of elementary reading - reading readiness - corresponds to pre-school and kindergarten experiences.

Great speed in reading is a dubious achievement; it is of value only if what you have to read is not worth reading.

The dictionary also invites a playful reading. It challenges anyone to sit down with it in an idle moment. There are worse ways to kill time.

The tragedy of being both rational and animal seems to consist in having to choose between duty and desire rather than in making any particular choice

As Thomas Hobbes said, If I read as many books as most men do, I would be as dull-witted as they are.