“I think modern educational theorists are inclined to attach too much importance to the negative virtue of not interfering with children, and too little to the positive merit of enjoying their company.”

—  Bertrand Russell

Source: 1930s, In Praise of Idleness and Other Essays (1935), Ch. 12: Education and Discipline

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update Sept. 29, 2023. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "I think modern educational theorists are inclined to attach too much importance to the negative virtue of not interferi…" by Bertrand Russell?
Bertrand Russell photo
Bertrand Russell 562
logician, one of the first analytic philosophers and politi… 1872–1970

Related quotes

Luc de Clapiers, Marquis de Vauvenargues photo

“Children are … encouraged to be imitators, a course to which they are already too much inclined. No one thinks of making them original, courageous, independent.”

Luc de Clapiers, Marquis de Vauvenargues (1715–1747) French writer, a moralist

Source: Reflections and Maxims (1746), p. 185.

Charlie Chaplin photo

“We think too much and feel too little.”

Charlie Chaplin (1889–1977) British comic actor and filmmaker
Ai Weiwei photo

“I think we have too much history. It’s not so important. I think people should have fun and enjoy their own time. I haven’t done much, so why should I waste people’s memory?”

Ai Weiwei (1957) Chinese concept artist

2000-09, Who Is Ai Weiwei?, 2009

Cecelia Ahern photo

“I used to think that it was better to have too much than too little, but now I think if the too much was never supposed to be yours, you should just take what is yours and give the rest back.”

Cecelia Ahern (1981) Irish novelist

Source: The Book of Tomorrow

Georges Sorel photo

“We must not always attach too much importance to violent attacks on the bourgeoisie; they may be motivated by the desire to reform and to perfect capitalism.”

Georges Sorel book Reflections on Violence

Source: Reflections on Violence (1908), p. 125

Patrick Rothfuss photo

“She looked at me. Looked away. “You think too much of me.”
I smiled. “Perhaps you think too little of yourself.””

Patrick Rothfuss book The Name of the Wind

Source: The Name of the Wind (2007), Chapter 62, “Leaves” (p. 464)

Sylvia Plath photo

“Aloneness and selfness are too important to betray for company.”

Sylvia Plath (1932–1963) American poet, novelist and short story writer
John Dryden photo

“But far more numerous was the herd of such,
Who think too little, and who talk too much.”

John Dryden Absalom and Achitophel

Pt. I, lines 532–533. Compare Matthew Prior, Upon a Passage in the Scaligerana, "They always talk who never think".
Source: Absalom and Achitophel (1681)

Margaret Chase Smith photo

“One of the basic causes for all the trouble in the world today is that people talk too much and think too little. They act too impulsively without thinking.”

Margaret Chase Smith (1897–1995) Member of the United States Senate from Maine

As quoted in NEA Journal : The Journal of the National Education Association‎ Vol. 41 (1952) p. 300
Context: One of the basic causes for all the trouble in the world today is that people talk too much and think too little. They act too impulsively without thinking. I am not advocating in the slightest that we become mutes with our voices stilled because of fear of criticism of what we might say. That is moral cowardice. And moral cowardice that keeps us from speaking our minds is as dangerous to this country as irresponsible talk. The right way is not always the popular and easy way. Standing for right when it is unpopular is a true test of moral character. The importance of individual thinking to the preservation of our democracy and our freedom cannot be overemphasized. The broader sense of the concept of your role in the defense of democracy is that of the citizen doing his most for the preservation of democracy and peace by independent thinking, making that thinking articulate by translating it into action at the ballot boxes, in the forums, and in everyday life, and being constructive and positive in that thinking and articulation. The most precious thing that democracy gives to us is freedom. You and I cannot escape the fact that the ultimate responsibility for freedom is personal. Our freedoms today are not so much in danger because people are consciously trying to take them away from us as they are in danger because we forget to use them. Freedom unexercised may be freedom forfeited. The preservation of freedom is in the hands of the people themselves — not of the government.

“Automatic design has the computer do too much and the human do too little, whereas automatic programming has the human do too much and the computer do too little. Both techniques are important, but are not representative for what we wish to mean by computer-aided design.”

Douglas T. Ross (1929–2007) American computer scientist

Computer-Aided Design: A Statement of Objectives (1960)

Related topics