Top 87 Mortimer J. Adler Quotes

#1. The First Level of Reading: Elementary Reading

Mortimer J. Adler

Mortimer J. Adler Quotes #18936
#2. If your friend wishes to read your 'Plutarch's Lives,' 'Shakespeare,' or 'The Federalist Papers,' tell him gently but firmly, to buy a copy. You will lend him your car or your coat - but your books are as much a part of you as your head or your heart.

Mortimer J. Adler

Mortimer J. Adler Quotes #24906
#3. Remember Bacon's recommendation to the reader: Read not to contradict and confute; nor to believe and take for granted; nor to find talk and discourse; but to weigh and consider.

Mortimer J. Adler

Mortimer J. Adler Quotes #26896
#4. Scientific objectivity is not the absence of initial bias. It is attained by frank confession of it.

Mortimer J. Adler

Mortimer J. Adler Quotes #66604
#5. The human mind is as naturally sensitive to arguments as the eye is to colors. (There may be some people who are argument-blind!) But the eye will not see if it is not kept open, and the mind will not follow an argument if it is not awake.

Mortimer J. Adler

Mortimer J. Adler Quotes #73979
#6. From your point of view as a reader, therefore, the most important words are those that give you trouble.

Mortimer J. Adler

Mortimer J. Adler Quotes #105603
#7. 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

Mortimer J. Adler

Mortimer J. Adler Quotes #137255
#8. one learns to do by doing.

Mortimer J. Adler

Mortimer J. Adler Quotes #160959
#9. 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

Mortimer J. Adler Quotes #217974
#10. There is no inactive learning, just as there is no inactive reading.

Mortimer J. Adler

Mortimer J. Adler Quotes #218291
#11. One of the most familiar tricks of the orator or propagandist is to leave certain things unsaid, things that are highly relevant to the argument, but that might be challenged if they were made explicit. While

Mortimer J. Adler

Mortimer J. Adler Quotes #246643
#12. There have always been literate ignoramuses who have read too widely and not well. The Greeks had a name for such a mixture of learning and folly which might be applied to the bookish but poorly read of all ages. They are all sophomores.

Mortimer J. Adler

Mortimer J. Adler Quotes #248080
#13. Now there is no other way of forming a habit of operation than by operating.

Mortimer J. Adler

Mortimer J. Adler Quotes #267512
#14. You must be able to say "I understand," before you can say "I agree," or "I disagree," or "I suspend judgment.

Mortimer J. Adler

Mortimer J. Adler Quotes #308807
#15. The mind can atrophy, like the muscles, if it is not used.

Mortimer J. Adler

Mortimer J. Adler Quotes #314074
#16. TURN THE PAGES, DIPPING IN HERE AND THERE, READING A PARAGRAPH OR TWO, SOMETIMES SEVERAL PAGES IN SEQUENCE, NEVER MORE THAN THAT.

Mortimer J. Adler

Mortimer J. Adler Quotes #349087
#17. Sometimes it feels like I'm thinking against the wind.

Mortimer J. Adler

Mortimer J. Adler Quotes #372805
#18. The complexities of adult life get in the way of the truth.

Mortimer J. Adler

Mortimer J. Adler Quotes #408990
#19. A good rule always describes the ideal performance.

Mortimer J. Adler

Mortimer J. Adler Quotes #423177
#20. As arts, grammar and logic are concerned with language in relation to thought and thought in relation to language. That is why skill in both reading and writing is gained through these arts.

Mortimer J. Adler

Mortimer J. Adler Quotes #430773
#21. Even when you have been somewhat enlightened by what you have read, you are called upon to continue the serach for significance.

Mortimer J. Adler

Mortimer J. Adler Quotes #432550
#22. Only hidden and undetected oratory is really insidious. What reaches the heart without going through the mind is likely to bounce back and put the mind out of business.

Mortimer J. Adler

Mortimer J. Adler Quotes #433528
#23. Books are absent teachers.

Mortimer J. Adler

Mortimer J. Adler Quotes #440862
#24. True freedom is impossible without a mind made free by discipline.

Mortimer J. Adler

Mortimer J. Adler Quotes #443389
#25. There is no more irritating fellow than the one who tries to settle an argument about communism, or justice, or freedom, by quoting from the dictionary. Lexicographers may be respected as authorities on word usage, but they are not the ultimate founts of wisdom.

Mortimer J. Adler

Mortimer J. Adler Quotes #485929
#26. Read the book through, undeterred and undismayed by the paragraphs, footnotes, comments, and references that escape you. If you let yourself get stalled, if you allow yourself to be tripped up by any one of these stumbling blocks, you are lost.

Mortimer J. Adler

Mortimer J. Adler Quotes #496834
#27. 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.

Mortimer J. Adler

Mortimer J. Adler Quotes #506820
#28. Understanding is a two-way operation; the learner has to question himself and question the teacher.

Mortimer J. Adler

Mortimer J. Adler Quotes #552266
#29. The beauty of any work of art is related to the pleasure it gives us when we know it well.

Mortimer J. Adler

Mortimer J. Adler Quotes #572928
#30. Wonder is the beginning of wisdom in learning from books as well as from nature.

Mortimer J. Adler

Mortimer J. Adler Quotes #573722
#31. Men are creatures of passion and prejudice. The language they must use to communicate is an imperfect medium, clouded by emotion and colored by interest, as well as inadequately transparent for thought.

Mortimer J. Adler

Mortimer J. Adler Quotes #599906
#32. As Thomas Hobbes said, If I read as many books as most men do, I would be as dull-witted as they are.

Mortimer J. Adler

Mortimer J. Adler Quotes #611819
#33. A practical problem can only be solved by action itself. When your practical problem is how to earn a living, a book on how to make friends and influence people cannot solve it, though it may suggest things to do. Nothing short of the doing solves the problem. It is solved only by earning a living.

Mortimer J. Adler

Mortimer J. Adler Quotes #632106
#34. A book is a work of art. (Again,

Mortimer J. Adler

Mortimer J. Adler Quotes #650969
#35. But it may be seriously questioned whether the advent of modern communications media has much enhanced our understanding of the world

Mortimer J. Adler

Mortimer J. Adler Quotes #656706
#36. The first dictionaries were glossaries of Homeric words, intended to help Romans read the Iliad and Odyssey as well as other Greek literature employing the 'archaic' Homeric vocabulary.

Mortimer J. Adler

Mortimer J. Adler Quotes #720629
#37. Great speed in reading is a dubious achievement; it is of value only if what you have to read is not worth reading.

Mortimer J. Adler

Mortimer J. Adler Quotes #755350
#38. Imaginative literature primarily pleases rather than teaches. It is much easier to be pleased than taught, but much harder to know why one is pleased. Beauty is harder to analyze than truth.

Mortimer J. Adler

Mortimer J. Adler Quotes #781585
#39. It is traditional in America to criticize the schools; for more than a century, parents, self-styled experts, and educators themselves have attacked and indicted the educational system.

Mortimer J. Adler

Mortimer J. Adler Quotes #805110
#40. Reading a book is a kind of conversation. You may think it is not conversation at all, because the author does all the talking and you have nothing to say. If you think that, you do not realize your full obligation as a reader - and you are not grasping your opportunities.

Mortimer J. Adler

Mortimer J. Adler Quotes #814567
#41. To this day, most institutions of higher learning either do not know how to instruct students in reading beyond the elementary level, or lack the facilities and personnel to do so.

Mortimer J. Adler

Mortimer J. Adler Quotes #830909
#42. You cannot begin to deal with terms, propositions, and arguments - the elements of thought - until you can penetrate beneath the surface of language.

Mortimer J. Adler

Mortimer J. Adler Quotes #851778
#43. The failure in reading -the omnipresent verbalism- of those who have not been trained in the arts of grammar and logic shows how lack of such discipline results in slavery to words rather than mastery of them.

Mortimer J. Adler

Mortimer J. Adler Quotes #859790
#44. Reading a book should be a conversation between you and the author.

Mortimer J. Adler

Mortimer J. Adler Quotes #872078
#45. Good books are over your head; they would not be good for you if they were not.

Mortimer J. Adler

Mortimer J. Adler Quotes #893061
#46. Finally, do not try to understand every word or page of a difficult book the first time through. This is the most important rule of all; it is the essence of inspectional reading.

Mortimer J. Adler

Mortimer J. Adler Quotes #914590
#47. The art of reading, in short, includes all of the same skills that are involved in the art of unaided discovery: keenness of observation, readily available memory, range of imagination, and, of course, an intellect trained in analysis and reflection.

Mortimer J. Adler

Mortimer J. Adler Quotes #915219
#48. The ability to retain a child's view of the world with at the same time a mature understanding of what it means to retain it, is extremely rare - and a person who has these qualities is likely to be able to contribute something really important to our thinking.

Mortimer J. Adler

Mortimer J. Adler Quotes #921723
#49. 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

Mortimer J. Adler Quotes #926998
#50. To agree without understanding is inane. To disagree without understanding is impudent.

Mortimer J. Adler

Mortimer J. Adler Quotes #940196
#51. Is it too much to expect from the schools that they train their students not only to interpret but to criticize; that is, to discriminate what is sound from error and falsehood, to suspend judgement if they are not convinced, or to judge with reason if they agree or disagree?

Mortimer J. Adler

Mortimer J. Adler Quotes #989271
#52. Many readers fear that it would be disloyal to their commitment to stand apart and impersonally question what they are reading. Yet this is necessary whenever you read analytically.

Mortimer J. Adler

Mortimer J. Adler Quotes #993209
#53. Most of us are addicted to non-active reading. The outstanding fault of the non-active or undemanding reader is his inattention to words, and his consequent failure to come to terms with the author.

Mortimer J. Adler

Mortimer J. Adler Quotes #1042610
#54. In judging a practical book, everything turns on the ends or goals.

Mortimer J. Adler

Mortimer J. Adler Quotes #1124079
#55. The student can read as fast as his mind will let him, not as slow as his eyes make him.

Mortimer J. Adler

Mortimer J. Adler Quotes #1131402
#56. The possession of the truth is the highest goal of the human mind.

Mortimer J. Adler

Mortimer J. Adler Quotes #1131542
#57. All books will become light in proportion as you find light in them.

Mortimer J. Adler

Mortimer J. Adler Quotes #1134440
#58. Being relevant simply consists in paying close attention to the point that is being talked about and saying nothing that is not significantly related to it.

Mortimer J. Adler

Mortimer J. Adler Quotes #1136648
#59. Getting more information is learning, and so is coming to understand what you did not understand before. But there is an important difference between these two kinds of learning.

Mortimer J. Adler

Mortimer J. Adler Quotes #1141453
#60. The first stage of elementary reading - reading readiness - corresponds to pre-school and kindergarten experiences.

Mortimer J. Adler

Mortimer J. Adler Quotes #1146720
#61. In short, we can only learn from our "betters".

Mortimer J. Adler

Mortimer J. Adler Quotes #1148851
#62. Any good argument can be put into a nutshell. There

Mortimer J. Adler

Mortimer J. Adler Quotes #1247747
#63. The reader who fails to ponder, or at least mark, the words he does not understand is headed for disaster.

Mortimer J. Adler

Mortimer J. Adler Quotes #1254110
#64. The great authors were great readers, and one way to understand them is to read the books they read.

Mortimer J. Adler

Mortimer J. Adler Quotes #1255491
#65. You will find that your comprehension of any book will be enormously increased if you only go to the trouble of finding its important words, identifying their shifting meanings, and coming to terms. Seldom does such a small change in habit have such a large effect.

Mortimer J. Adler

Mortimer J. Adler Quotes #1277764
#66. The purpose of learning is growth, and our minds, unlike our bodies, can continue growing as we continue to live.

Mortimer J. Adler

Mortimer J. Adler Quotes #1302203
#67. A lecture has been well described as the process whereby the notes of the teacher become the notes of the student without passing through the mind of either.

Mortimer J. Adler

Mortimer J. Adler Quotes #1311244
#68. Don't try to resist the effect that a work of imaginative literature has on you.

Mortimer J. Adler

Mortimer J. Adler Quotes #1342156
#69. It is only obvious that teaching is a very special art, sharing withonly two other arts-argriculture and medicin-an exceptionally important characteristic.

Mortimer J. Adler

Mortimer J. Adler Quotes #1385994
#70. The person who says he knows what he thinks but cannot express it usually does not know what he thinks.

Mortimer J. Adler

Mortimer J. Adler Quotes #1431191
#71. If an author does not give reasons for his propositions, they can only be treated as expressions of personal opinion on his part.

Mortimer J. Adler

Mortimer J. Adler Quotes #1460244
#72. Every book should be read no more slowly than it deserves, and no more quickly than you can read it with satisfaction and comprehension.

Mortimer J. Adler

Mortimer J. Adler Quotes #1485784
#73. Reading well, which means reading actively, is thus not only a good in itself, nor is it merely a means to advancement in our work or career. It also serves to keep our minds alive and growing.

Mortimer J. Adler

Mortimer J. Adler Quotes #1542851
#74. It is only when you try to refine the obvious, and give the distinctions greater precision, that you get into difficulties. For

Mortimer J. Adler

Mortimer J. Adler Quotes #1578955
#75. The undemanding reader asks no questions-and gets no answers.

Mortimer J. Adler

Mortimer J. Adler Quotes #1590792
#76. Always keep in mind that an article of faith is not something that the faithful assume. Faith, for those who have it, is the most certain form of knowledge, not a tentative opinion.

Mortimer J. Adler

Mortimer J. Adler Quotes #1608058
#77. The truly great books are the few books that are over everybody's head all of the time.

Mortimer J. Adler

Mortimer J. Adler Quotes #1628413
#78. Reading and the Democratic Ideal of Education

Mortimer J. Adler

Mortimer J. Adler Quotes #1640737
#79. We hope you have not made the error of supposing that to criticize is always to disagree. (...) To agree is just as much of an exercise of critical judgment on your part as to disagree.

Mortimer J. Adler

Mortimer J. Adler Quotes #1694600
#80. A person who has read widely but not well deserves to be pitied rather than praised. As

Mortimer J. Adler

Mortimer J. Adler Quotes #1696024
#81. We do not have to know everything about something in order to understand it; too many facts are often as much of an obstacle to understanding as too few.

Mortimer J. Adler

Mortimer J. Adler Quotes #1696385
#82. There are genuine mysteries in the world that mark the limits of human knowing and thinking. Wisdom is fortified, not destroyed, by understanding its limitations. Ignorance does not make a fool as surely as self-deception.

Mortimer J. Adler

Mortimer J. Adler Quotes #1731646
#83. To use a good book as a sedative is conspicuous waste.

Mortimer J. Adler

Mortimer J. Adler Quotes #1775431
#84. Philosophy is like science and unlike history in that it seeks general truths rather than an account of particular events, either in the near or distant past.

Mortimer J. Adler

Mortimer J. Adler Quotes #1800120
#85. For those of us who are no longer in school, we observed, it is necessary, if we want to go on learning and discovering, to know how to make books teach us well. In that situation, if we want to go on learning, then we must know how to learn from books, which are absent teachers.

Mortimer J. Adler

Mortimer J. Adler Quotes #1816445
#86. 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.

Mortimer J. Adler

Mortimer J. Adler Quotes #1848027
#87. 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

Mortimer J. Adler

Mortimer J. Adler Quotes #1852681

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