18 Quotes by Charles Van Doren

I’ve learned a lot about good and evil. They are not always what they appear to be.

But knowledge is not as much a prerequisite to understanding as is commonly supposed. 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.

Because the world is radically new, the ideal encyclopedia should be radical, too.

I cannot take back one word or action; the past does not change for anyone.

Education in the West, particularly higher education in America, has lost the ability to see the universe from very far away.

He recognized that, first, the rich are always desirous of governing for their own benefit, and second that the people can always turn against them and become a mob, taking things into its own hands. As always, the mean between extremes is to be sought.

I hoped that it would be possible to slide slowly from my public life back to the life of teaching and writing that I had always wanted. But things didn’t work out that way.

I worked hard at memorizing lists of facts and figures, and carried with me a book of facts.

My total winnings after 14 appearances were $129,000.