Mortimer Adler Quotes
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I suspect that most of the individuals who have religious faith are content with blind faith. They feel no obligation to understand what they believe. They may even wish not to have their beliefs disturbed by thought.
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All genuine learning is active, not passive. It involves the use of the mind, not just the memory. It is a process of discovery, in which the student is the main agent, not the teacher.
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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.
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To agree without understanding is inane. To disagree without understanding is impudent.
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Not to engage in this pursuit of ideas is to live like ants instead of like men.
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In the case of good books, the point is not to see how many of them you can get through, but how many can get through to you.
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Television, 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.
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More consequences for thought and action follow the affirmation or denial of God than from answering any other basic question.
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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?
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True freedom is impossible without a mind made free by discipline.