01UndatedThe complexities of adult life get in the way of the truth. The great philosophers have always been able to clear away the complexities and see simple distinctions - simple once they are stated, vastly difficult before. If we are to follow them we too must be childishly simple in our questions - and maturely wise in our replies.Mortimer J. Adler / quote ↗
02UndatedIs 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 / quote ↗
03UndatedWonder is the beginning of wisdom in learning from books as well as from nature.Mortimer J. Adler / quote ↗
04UndatedThere 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 / quote ↗
05Undated....a good book can teach you about the world and about yourself. You learn more than how to read better; you also learn more about life. You become wiser. Not just more knowledgeable - books that provide nothing but information can produce that result. But wiser, in the sense that you are more deeply aware of the great and enduring truths of human life.Mortimer J. Adler / quote ↗
06UndatedTelevision, radio, and all the sources of amusement and information that surround us in our daily lives are also artificial props. They can give us the impression that our minds are active, because we are required to react to stimuli from the outside. But the power of those external stimuli to keep us going is limited. They are like drugs. We grow used to them, and we continuously need more and more of them. Eventually, they have little or no effect. Then, if we lack resources within ourselves, we cease to grow intellectually, morally, and spiritually. And we we cease to grow, we begin to die.Mortimer J. Adler / quote ↗
07UndatedThe 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 / quote ↗
09UndatedA 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 / quote ↗
10UndatedIn 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 / quote ↗
11UndatedIf 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 / quote ↗
12UndatedTrue freedom is impossible without a mind made free by discipline.Mortimer J. Adler / quote ↗
14UndatedIf a book is easy and fits nicely into all your language conventions and thought forms, then you probably will not grow much from reading it. It may be entertaining, but not enlarging to your understanding. It’s the hard books that count. Raking is easy, but all you get is leaves; digging is hard, but you might find diamonds.Mortimer J. Adler / quote ↗
16UndatedYou 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 / quote ↗
17UndatedThe student can read as fast as his mind will let him, not as slow as his eyes make him.Mortimer J. Adler / quote ↗
18UndatedDon't try to resist the effect that a work of imaginative literature has on you.Mortimer J. Adler / quote ↗
19UndatedThe reader who fails to ponder, or at least mark, the words he does not understand is headed for disaster.Mortimer J. Adler / quote ↗
20UndatedFrom your point of view as a reader, therefore, the most important words are those that give you trouble.Mortimer J. Adler / quote ↗
21UndatedMost 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 / quote ↗
24UndatedWhat reaches the heart without going through the mind is likely to bounce back and put the mind out of business.Mortimer J. Adler / quote ↗
