China, Past and Present (1972) Ch. 6
“Perhaps one has to be very old before one learns to be amused rather than shocked.”
Robert Browning (1812–1889) English poet and playwright of the Victorian Era
Not Browning, but a misquotation from Pearl Buck's China, Past and Present: "Ah well, perhaps one has to be very old before one learns how to be amused rather than shocked".
Misattributed
“One should never forget, that society would rather be amused than instructed.”
Adolph Freiherr Knigge book Über den Umgang mit Menschen
Vor allen Dingen soll man nie vergessen, daß die Gesellschaft lieber unterhalten, als unterrichtet sein will.
Variant translation: Above all, we should never forget that society would prefer to be entertained, than taught.
Über den Umgang mit Menschen (1788)
Martin Buber (1878–1965) German Jewish Existentialist philosopher and theologian
Source: Eclipse of God: Studies in the Relation Between Religion and Philosophy (1952), p. 6
“I would rather learn from one bird how to sing than to teach 10,000 stars how not to dance.”
E.E. Cummings (1894–1962) American poet
Collected Poems (1938) New Poems 22
Variant: I'd rather learn from one bird how to sing
than teach ten thousand stars how not to dance.
Louis L'Amour (1908–1988) Novelist, short story writer
Source: Education of a Wandering Man (1989), Ch. 11
Vincent Van Gogh (1853–1890) Dutch post-Impressionist painter (1853-1890)
Quote in his letter to brother Theo, from Antwerp Belgium, Winter 1886; as quoted in Vincent van Gogh, edited by Alfred H. Barr; Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1935 https://www.moma.org/documents/moma_catalogue_1996_300061887.pdf, (letter 453), p. 38 <br class="br">1880s, 1886
Peter F. Drucker (1909–2005) American business consultant
Source: 1930s- 1950s, Landmarks of Tomorrow: A Report on the New 'Post-Modern' World (1959), p. 144
