A first principle not formally recognized by scientific methodologists: when you run into something interesting, drop everything else and study it.

The only geniuses produced by the chaos of society are those who do something about it. Chaos breeds geniuses. It offers a man something to be a genius about.

We shouldn't teach great books; we should teach a love of reading.

That's all teaching is; arranging contingencies which bring changes in behavior.

We shouldn't teach great books; we should teach a love of reading. Knowing the contents of a few works of literature is a trivial achievement. Being inclined to go on reading is a great achievement.

...not everyone is willing to defend a position of 'not knowing.' There is no virtue in ignorance for its own sake.

The alphabet was a great invention, which enabled men to store and to learn with little effort what others had learned the hard way-that is, to learn from books rather than from direct, possibly painful, contact with the real world.