Alfie Kohn Quotes

We learn most readily, most naturally, most effectively, when we start with the big picture - precisely when the basics don't come first.

Alfie Kohn

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Quotes to Explore

• When I was writing 'The Satanic Verses,' if you had asked me about the phenomenon that we all now know as radical Islam, I wouldn't have had much to say. As recently as the mid-1980s, it didn't seem to be a big deal.

  

  Salman Rushdie
  • Writing
  • Deal
  • Islam

• The single most important thing that I feel responsible for is that the company cherishes the work.

  

  Jack O'Brien
  • Work
  • Important
  • Single

• Here in Indiana and in many states throughout the union, we rely on coal to power our homes and provide good-paying middle class jobs - like the one my family relied on when I was a kid. The coal mine helped put food on our table and helped me pursue an education and realize the American Dream.

  

  Larry Bucshon
  • Good
  • Family
  • Power

• The beauty of diversification is it's about as close as you can get to a free lunch in investing.

  

  Barry Ritholtz
  • Free
  • Beauty
  • Lunch

• When I see things in the world that leap out at me, I want to make use of them in fiction. Maybe every writer does that. It just depends on what you claim or appropriate as yours.

  

  Rachel Kushner
  • World
  • Writer
  • Use

• I just butcher a book. Everything I underline I assume is important to me.

  

  Gavin Newsom
  • Important
  • Book
  • Me

• It's very difficult when you have $1.50 per day to spend on food and drink, but for people who live this reality, that money also has to cover medical expenses and education, fuel and shelter - sometimes for an entire family.

  

  Rachel Brosnahan
  • People
  • Live
  • Family

• The Founders believed liberty came directly from God. With their knowledge of Scripture, they knew each child was made in the image of God. That is why everyone had dignity, value and worth.

  

  Gary Bauer
  • God
  • Why
  • Knowledge

• I would love to be a professional athlete. When I was living in Mexico as a teenager, I did seven years of gymnastics and went to the Junior Olympics. I was getting to the level of going to the international competitions, but I was only 14, and my parents were really worried because they did not want that to be my life.

  

  Karla Souza
  • Life
  • Parents
  • Worried

• I'm sure that President Johnson would never have pursued the war in Vietnam if he'd ever had a Fulbright to Japan, or say Bangkok, or had any feeling for what these people are like and why they acted the way they did. He was completely ignorant.

  

  J. William Fulbright
  • People
  • Why
  • War

• I grew up with the idea of the cyborg and the robot, but at the same time I felt this intense disconnection between the things I was engaged with and inspired by in terms of fun and play. It seemed like paintings and drawings were so static.

  

  Aaron Koblin
  • Up
  • Time
  • Fun

• Words are not even within me. They're not in my vocabulary to really express the kind of feeling that I had.

  

  Tanya Tucker
  • Words
  • Feeling
  • Me

• I never starved myself.

  

  Tatjana Patitz
  • Myself
  • Never
  • Starved

• I get very confused about being called a comedian, because when you say 'I'm a comedian,' people expect you to crack a joke. Maybe I use laughter and humour to make people think. I don't know what you call that - a humourist? A satirist? A pessimistic comedian? I don't know. Satirists can be very dark.

  

  Bassem Youssef
  • People
  • Dark
  • Laughter

• I don't have a huge breakfast, and I sometimes forget to have lunch, so I focus on dinner. I love Thai and Japanese food.

  

  Saffron Aldridge
  • Food
  • Focus
  • Forget

• Would that there were an award for people who come to understand the concept of enough. Good enough. Successful enough. Thin enough. Rich enough. Socially responsible enough. When you have self-respect, you have enough.

  

  Gail Sheehy
  • People
  • Good
  • Respect

• If we were to inspect ourselves or members of our family and our friends, we would see that we don't really have to go all the way overseas to be mystified - we can be mystified right at home.

  

  P. J. O'Rourke
  • Family
  • Home
  • Friends

• A government is invigorated when each of us is willing to participate in shaping the future of this nation.

  

  Barbara Jordan
  • Future
  • Government
  • Nation

• I write both fiction and nonfiction. I begin my fiction with the main character. The story comes later.

  

  David A. Adler
  • Character

• I am not interested in shock tactics. I just want to make beautiful clothes.

  

  Oscar de la Renta
  • Beautiful
  • Clothes
  • Shock

• Vigorous enforcement of copyrights themselves is an important part of the picture. But I don't think that expanding the legal definition of copyright outside of actual copyright infringement is the right move.

  

  Edward Felten
  • Important
  • Picture

• I travel often, which can make maintaining a workout schedule a little difficult, but I try to make time for it whenever I can. Sometimes I wake up extra early so I can fit in a run or a bike ride, and other days I'll just blast music and jump around or watch a 30-minute exercise video.

  

  Bethany Mota
  • Up
  • Time
  • Music

• Whether you're a man or a woman, life can be very, very difficult and confusing and desperate, and it's life-enhancing to know that somehow, there is a way through it.

  

  Marianne Elliott
  • Life

• We learn most readily, most naturally, most effectively, when we start with the big picture - precisely when the basics don't come first.

  

  Alfie Kohn
  • Picture
  • Learn
  • Basics