35 Quotes by Jerome S. Bruner

Stimuli, however, do not act upon an indifferent organism.

Organizing facts in terms of principles and ideas from which they may be inferred is the only known way of reducing the quick rate of loss of human memory.

In time, and as one comes to benefit from experience, one learns that things will turn out neither as well as one hoped nor as badly as one feared.

The young child approaching a new subject or anew problem is like the scientist operating at the edge of his chosen field.

Contrary to common sense there is no unique “real world” that pre-exists and is independent of human mental activity and human symbolic language; that which we call the world is a product of some mind whose symbolic procedures construct the world.

Knowledge helps only when it descends into habits.

We carry with us habits of thought and taste fostered in some nearly forgotten classroom by a certain teacher.

In the perception of the incongruous stimuli, the recognition process is temporarily thwarted and exhibits characteristics which are generally not observable in the recognition of more conventional stimuli.

I would urge that the yeast of education is the idea of excellence, and the idea of excellence comprises as many forms as there are individuals, each of whom develops his own image of excellence. The school must have as one of its principal functions the nurturing of images of excellence.