180 Quotes by Mortimer J. Adler
- Author Mortimer J. Adler
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From your point of view as a reader, therefore, the most important words are those that give you trouble.
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Most of us are addicted to non-active reading. The outstanding fault of the non-active or undemanding reader is his inattention to words, and his consequent failure to come to terms with the author.
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The tremendous pleasure that can come from reading Shakespeare, for instance, was spoiled for generations of high school students who were forced to go through Julius Caesar, As You Like It, or Hamlet, scene by scene, looking up all the strange words in a glossary and studying all the scholarly footnotes. As a result, they never really read a Shakespearean play.
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We are not told, or not told early enough so that it sinks in, that mathematics is a language, and that we can learn it like any other, including our own. We have to learn our own language twice, first when we learn to speak it, second when we learn to read it. Fortunately, mathematics has to be learned only once, since it is almost wholly a written language.
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Enlightenment is achieved only when, in addition to knowing what an author says, you know what he means and why he says it.
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If you have not been able to read a book sympathetically, your disagreement with it is probably more contentious than civil (P. 152)
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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.
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Lack of relevant knowledge [uninformed author] makes it impossible to solve certain problems or support certain conclusions. Erroneous suppositions [misinformed author], however, lead to wrong conclusions and untenable solutions. Taken together, these two points charge an author with defects in his premises. He needs more knowledge than he possesses. His evidences and reasons are not good enough in quantity or quality. (P. 156)
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To a Christian who believes in personal immortality, the writings of Epictetus or Marcus Aurelius are an incomplete account of human happiness. (P. 160)
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