“310. A pupil and a teacher. The pupil will not let anything be explained to him, for he continually interrupts with doubts, for instance as to the existence of things, the meaning for words, etc. The teacher says "Stop interrupting me and do as I tell you. So far your doubts don't make sense at all."”

— Ludwig Wittgenstein , book On Certainty

On Certainty (1969)

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update Sept. 27, 2023. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "310. A pupil and a teacher. The pupil will not let anything be explained to him, for he continually interrupts with dou…" by Ludwig Wittgenstein?

Ludwig Wittgenstein 228

Austrian-British philosopher 1889–1951

Related quotes

“A teacher can do very little for a pupil and should only be thankful if he don't hinder him, and the greater the master, mostly the less he can say.”

Thomas Eakins (1844–1916) American painter

Letter to Benjamin Eakins (1869-11-29).

“If you become a teacher, by your pupils you'll be taught.”

Oscar Hammerstein II (1895–1960) American librettist, theatrical producer, and (usually uncredited) theatre director of musicals

"Getting to Know You", The King and I (1956).

“Your old teacher never explained anything to you? I don't think that was very good. Not to explain. You can always ask me anything. That's what a real teacher should do.”

James Clavell book The Children's Story

"Teacher"
The Children's Story (1982)

““Culture” means … the cultivation of the mind, the taking care and improving of the native faculties of the mind in accordance with the nature of the mind. Just as the soil needs cultivators of the soil, the mind needs teachers. But teachers are not as easy to come by as farmers. The teachers themselves are pupils and must be pupils. But there cannot be an infinite regress: ultimately there must be teachers who are not in turn pupils. Those teachers who are not in turn pupils are the great minds.”

Leo Strauss (1899–1973) Classical philosophy specialist and father of neoconservativism

“What is liberal education,” p. 3
Liberalism Ancient and Modern (1968)

“The teacher does best, not when he explains, but when he impels his pupils to seek themselves the explanation.”

John Lancaster Spalding (1840–1916) Catholic bishop

Source: Aphorisms and Reflections (1901), p. 31

“Time is a great teacher, but unfortunately it kills all its pupils.”

Hector Berlioz (1803–1869) French Romantic composer

Le temps est un grand maître, dit-on; le malheur est qu'il soit un maître inhumain qui tue ses élèves.
Letter written in November 1856, published in Pierre Citron (ed.) Correspondance générale (Paris: Flammarion, 1989) vol. 5, p. 390; Paul Davies About Time: Einstein’s Unfinished Revolution (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1996) p. 214.