63 Quotes by William Deresiewicz

With no larger educational ideals to shape the undergraduate experience,” Lewis says, “decisions affecting students are calculated to satisfy their immediate demands.” Instead of humanities, students are getting amenities.

People’s stories are the most personal thing they have, and paying attention to those stories is just about the most important thing you can do for them.

Thinking means concentrating on one thing long enough to develop an idea about it. Not learning other people’s ideas, or memorizing a body of information, however much those may sometimes be useful. Developing your own ideas. In short, thinking for yourself.

If you’re oblivious to other people, chances are pretty good that you’re going to hurt them.

People don’t mind being in prison as long as no one else is free. But stage a jailbreak, and everybody else freaks out.

We proceed by doubt, by trial and error, by resisting the impulse to lunge after certainty.

But the compulsive overachievement of today’s elite college students – the sense that they need to keep running as fast as they can – is not the only thing that keeps them from forming the deeper relationships that might relieve their anguish. Something more insidious is operating, too: a resistance to vulnerability, a fear of looking like the only one who isn’t capable of handling the pressure.

Not every ten-percenter is an excellent sheep, but a sufficient number are for you to think very carefully before deciding to surround yourself with them. Kids at less prestigious schools are apt to be more interesting, more curious, more open, more appreciative of what they’re getting, and far less entitled and competitive. They tend to act like peers instead of rivals.

Moral courage can be lonely indeed. People don’t mind being trapped, as long as no one else is free. But stage a break, and everybody else begins to panic.