The Ivory Tower Quotes

I hate that phrase "the real world." Why is an aircraft factory more real than a university? Is it? — Richard Hugo

Though confined to our destiny, we do get to pick the color scheme. — Robert Breault

For me or a Bruce Springsteen to sit up in our ivory towers and make comments about racism, well, were not really in it, are we? — John Mellencamp

Maybe what I admired most about John Steinbeck is that he never mortgaged his 45-acre heart for a suite in an ivory tower. — Tom Robbins

As hard as I try to sound tough and dark, I still sound cute. — Jenny Lewis

Written words still have the amazing power to bring out the best and worst of human nature — Nadine Gordimer

That's a big part of being a designer now: going out, having dinners, meeting people. Being in an ivory tower, you can feel very removed. — Joseph Altuzarra

Jan built herself an ivory tower to keep the wolves out; she never dreamed they were already inside. — Seanan McGuire

Who reflects too much will accomplish little. — Friedrich Schiller

Many live in the ivory tower called reality; they never venture on the open sea of thought. — Francois Gautier

I've always thought academics should get a little slurry on their boots from time to time. — Karen Lord

Smooth shapes are very rare in the wild but extremely important in the ivory tower and the factory. — Benoit Mandelbrot

You think the queen of the castle is going to let me in the ivory tower? — Jay Crownover

We look down on our scientists if they engage in outside consultation. We implicitly promote the ivory tower. — Vikram Sarabhai

Power is in inflicting pain and humiliation. — George Orwell

Free from ivory-tower
the pencil twirls
across the footpath — Santosh Kalwar

There is a great satisfaction in building good tools for other people to use. — Freeman Dyson

The commonest ivory tower is that of the average man, the state of passivity towards experience. — W. H. Auden

An ivory tower is a fine place as long as the door is open. — Walter Darby Bannard

The ivory tower of the artist may be the only stronghold left for human values, cultural treasures, man's cult of beauty. — Anais Nin

You'll make better art after a day at the office than you will after a lifetime in an ivory tower. — Sara Benincasa

I don't want to live in an ivory tower, being the songwriter who just turns inward. — Billie Joe Armstrong

The trouble with the world is that laziness is seldom curable and never fatal. — Evan Esar

Knowing was a barrier which prevented learning. — Frank Herbert

Ivory towers are as rare as bowling alleys in tribal cultures. — Terry Eagleton

This was the torment and insanity, the enjoyment of angels, when he was helpless in Silas's hands. "Frighten me," Dominic whispered. — K.J. Charles

The only refuge left to us was the poet's ivory tower, which we climbed, ever higher, to isolate ourselves from the mob. — Gerard De Nerval

As much as we sometimes roll our eyes at the ivory-tower isolation of universities, they continue to serve as remarkable engines of innovation. — Steven Johnson