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Learning Quotes

    “What we are after is the root and not the branches. The root is the real knowledge; the branches are surface knowledge. Real knowledge breeds ‘body feel’ and personal expression; surface knowledge breeds mechanical conditioning and imposing limitation and squelches creativity.”

    Bruce Lee, Striking Thoughts (Page 11)

      “A teacher is never a giver of truth; he is a guide, a pointer to the truth that each student must find for himself. A good teacher is merely a catalyst.”

      Bruce Lee, Striking Thoughts (Page xvi)

        “Abide by rules, then throw them out!—only then may you achieve true freedom.”

        Bashō, Narrow Road To The Interior (Page XXIII)

          “Knowledge is always progressing. Don’t let your ego fool you. You are always knowledge’s inferior.”

          Robert Greene, The Daily Laws (Page 94)

            “Learning never exhausts the mind.”

            Leonardo Da Vinci, The Daily Laws (Page 85)

              “We receive three educations, one from our parents, one from our school masters, and one from the world. The third contradicts all that the first two teach us.”

              Baron De Montesquieu, The Daily Laws (Page 51)

                “A thought can advance your life in the right direction only when it answers questions which were asked by your soul. A thought which was first borrowed from someone else and then accepted by your mind and memory does not really much influence your life, and sometimes leads you in the wrong direction.”

                Leo Tolstoy, A Calendar of Wisdom (Page 21)

                  “People always wonder if they’re too old to do XYZ. It has been said that every 7 years, each cell in your body has been entirely replaced. Biology is my worst subject, so that could be wrong. But 7 is a magic number. It takes approximately 7 years to get 10,000 hours in to something. In any period of 7 years, I guarantee anyone you know will look back and say “Boy did I change.” It is never too late to 100% reinvent yourself. 21 to 28 still leaves most of your life. 42 to 49 still leaves nearly half of your life. Between 21 and 49 you will have lived 4 lives. That’s mastery in 4 different fields in the prime of your life. That’s important.”

                  Jordan Allen, Quora

                    “She never collected lightning bugs in bottles; you learn a lot more about something when it’s not in a jar.”

                    Delia Owens, Where The Crawdads Sing (Page 142)

                      “On every trip to Kya’s, Tate took school or library books, especially on marsh creatures and biology. Her progress was startling. She could read anything now, he said, and once you can read anything you can learn everything. It was up to her. ‘Nobody’s come close to filling their brains,’ he said. ‘We’re all like giraffes not using their necks to reach the higher leaves.'”

                      Delia Owens, Where The Crawdads Sing (Page 131)

                        “Great teachers are usually hardest on their most promising students. When teachers see potential, they want it to be fully realized. But great teachers are also aware that natural ability and quick comprehension can be quite dangerous to the student if left alone. Early promise can lead to overconfidence and create bad habits. Those who pick things up quickly are notorious for skipping the basic lessons and ignoring the fundamentals. Don’t get carried away. Take it slow. Train with humility.”

                        Ryan Holiday, The Daily Stoic (Page 211)

                          “When you find a writer who really is saying something to you, read everything that writer has written and you will get more education and depth of understanding out of that than reading a scrap here and a scrap there and elsewhere. Then go to people who influenced that writer, or those who were related to him, and your world builds together in an organic way that is really marvelous.”

                          Joseph Campbell, The Hero’s Journey

                            “The best thing for being sad… is to learn something. That is the only thing that never fails. You may grow old and trembling in your anatomies, you may lie awake at night listening to the disorder of your veins, you may miss your only love, you may see the world about you devastated by evil lunatics, or know your honor trampled in the sewers of baser minds. There is only one thing for it then — to learn. Learn why the world wags and what wags it. That is the only thing which the mind can never exhaust, never alienate, never be tortured by, never fear or distrust, and never dream of regretting.”

                            T.H. White, The Once and Future King

                              “[On learning how to play the banjo] I thought, if I stay with it, then one day I will have been playing for forty years, and anyone who sticks with something for forty years will be pretty good at it.”

                              Steve Martin, via So Good They Can’t Ignore You (Page 98)

                                “If you want to learn, if you want to improve your life, seeking out teachers, philosophers, and great books is a good start. But this approach will only be effective if you’re humble and ready to let go of opinions you already have.”

                                Ryan Holiday, The Daily Stoic (Page 113)