Nobody can decide for himself whether he is going to be a human being. The only question open to him is whether he will be an ignorant undeveloped one or one who has sought to reach the highest point he is capable of attaining.

Football, fraternities and fun have no place in the university. They were introduced only to entertain those who shouldn't be in the university.

There is only one justification for universities, as distinguished from trade schools. They must be centers of criticism.

Most people spend their time on the 'urgent' rather than on the 'important.'

My idea of education is to unsettle the minds of the young and inflame their intellects.

A civilization in which there is not a continuous controversy about important issues is on the way to totalitarianism and death

The most distressing aspect of the world into which you are going is its indifference to the basic issues, which now, as always, are moral issues.