Quote

Books are absent teachers.

Mortimer Adler

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

TAGS & TOPICS

Mortimer Adler
Age: 98 †
Born: 1902
Born: December 28
Died: 2001
Died: June 28
Philosopher
Teacher
University Teacher
Writer
New York City
New York
Mortimer J. Adler
Mortimer Adler
Absent
Teachers
Teacher
Books
Book

More quotes by Mortimer Adler

Image
First, an angel is spiritually present at whatever place in physical space happens to be occupied by the body on which it acts. It can be present at that place without leaving Heaven which is its spiritual residence.
Mortimer Adler
Image
Wonder is the beginning of wisdom in learning from books as well as from nature.
Mortimer Adler
Image
The teacher's role in discussion is to keep it going along fruitful lines - be moderating, guiding, correcting and arguing like one more students.
Mortimer Adler
Image
I suspect that most of the individuals who have religious faith are content with blind faith
Mortimer Adler
Image
Unless we love and are loved, each of us is alone, each of us is deeply lonely.
Mortimer Adler
Image
The telephone book is full of facts, but it doesn't contain a single idea.
Mortimer Adler
Image
Love wishes to perpetuate itself. Love wishes for immortality.
Mortimer Adler
Image
There are genuine mysteries in the world that mark the limits of human knowing and thinking. Wisdom is fortified, not destroyed, by understanding its limitations. Ignorance does not make a fool as surely as self-deception.
Mortimer Adler
Image
The dictionary also invites a playful reading. It challenges anyone to sit down with it in an idle moment. There are worse ways to kill time.
Mortimer Adler
Image
All genuine learning is active, not passive.
Mortimer Adler
Image
The complexities of adult life get in the way of the truth.
Mortimer Adler
Image
I suspect that most of the individuals who have religious faith are content with blind faith. They feel no obligation to understand what they believe. They may even wish not to have their beliefs disturbed by thought.
Mortimer Adler
Image
Teachers may think they are stuffing minds, but all they are ever affecting is the memory. Nothing can ever be forced into anyone's mind except by brainwashing, which is the very opposite of genuine teaching.
Mortimer Adler
Image
... The person who, at any stage of a conversation, disagrees, should at least hope to reach agreement in the end. He should be as much prepared to have his own mind changed as seek to change the mind of another ... No one who looks upon disagreement as an occasion for teaching another should forget that it is also an occasion for being taught.
Mortimer Adler
Image
Love without conversation is impossible.
Mortimer Adler
Image
Habits are formed by the repetition of particular acts. They are strengthened by an increase in the number of repeated acts. Habits are also weakened or broken, and contrary habits are formed by the repetition of contrary acts.
Mortimer Adler
Image
Sometimes it feels like I'm thinking against the wind.
Mortimer Adler
Image
Freud's view is that all love is sexual in its origin or its basis. Even those loves which do not appear to be sexual or erotic have a sexual root or core. They are all sublimations of the sexual instinct.
Mortimer Adler
Image
The ultimate end of education is happiness or a good human life, a life enriched by the possession of every kind of good, by the enjoyment of every type of satisfaction.
Mortimer Adler
Image
Love can be unselfish, in the sense of being benevolent and generous, without being selfless.
Mortimer Adler