180 Quotes by Mortimer J. Adler

  • Author Mortimer J. Adler
  • Quote

    Theoretical books teach you that something is the case. Practical books teach you how to do something you want to do or think you should do.

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  • Author Mortimer J. Adler
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    The art of reading, in short, includes all of the same skills that are involved in the art of unaided discovery: keenness of observation, readily available memory, range of imagination, and, of course, an intellect trained in analysis and reflection.

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  • Author Mortimer J. Adler
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    Even when you have been somewhat enlightened by what you have read, you are called upon to continue the serach for significance.

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  • Author Mortimer J. Adler
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    One constant is that, to achieve all the purposes of reading, the desideratum must be the ability to read different things at different – appropriate – speeds, not everything at the greatest possible speed. As Pascal observed three hundred years ago, “When we read too fast or too slowly, we understand nothing.” Since.

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  • Author Mortimer J. Adler
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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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  • Author Mortimer J. Adler
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    The philosopher ought never to try to avoid the duty of making up his mind.

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  • Author Mortimer J. Adler
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    But it may be seriously questioned whether the advent of modern communications media has much enhanced our understanding of the world.

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