Quotes about studying
page 15

Paul A. Samuelson photo
Jim Garrison photo
Laurent Clerc photo

“Every creature, every work of God, is admirably well made; but if any one appears imperfect in our eyes, it does not belong to us to criticise it. Perhaps that which we do not find right in its kind, turns to our advantage, without our being able to perceive it. Let us look at the state of the heavens, one while the sun shines, another time it does not appear; now the weather is fine; again it is unpleasant; one day is hot, another is cold; another time it is rainy, snowy or cloudy; every thing is variable and inconstant. Let us look at the surface of the earth: here the ground is flat; there it is hilly and mountainous; in other places it is sandy; in others it is barren; and elsewhere it is productive. Let us, in thought, go into an orchard or forest. What do we see? Trees high or low, large or small, upright or crooked, fruitful or unfruitful. Let us look at the birds of the air, and at the fishes of the sea, nothing resembles another thing. Let us look at the beasts. We see among the same kinds some of different forms, of different dimensions, domestic or wild, harmless or ferocious, useful or useless, pleasing or hideous. Some are bred for men's sakes; some for their own pleasures and amusements; some are of no use to us. There are faults in their organization as well as in that of men. Those who are acquainted with the veterinary art, know this well; but as for us who have not made a study of this science, we seem not to discover or remark these faults. Let us now come to ourselves. Our intellectual faculties as well as our corporeal organization have their imperfections. There are faculties both of the mind and heart, which education improve; there are others which it does not correct. I class in this number, idiotism, imbecility, dulness. But nothing can correct the infirmities of the bodily organization, such as deafness, blindness, lameness, palsy, crookedness, ugliness. The sight of a beautiful person does not make another so likewise, a blind person does not render another blind. Why then should a deaf person make others so also? Why are we Deaf and Dumb? Is it from the difference of our ears? But our ears are like yours; is it that there may be some infirmity? But they are as well organized as yours. Why then are we Deaf and Dumb? I do not know, as you do not know why there are infirmities in your bodies, nor why there are among the human kind, white, black, red and yellow men. The Deaf and Dumb are everywhere, in Asia, in Africa, as well as in Europe and America. They existed before you spoke of them and before you saw them.”

Laurent Clerc (1785–1869) French-American deaf educator

Statement of 1818, quoted in Through Deaf Eyes: A Photographic History of an American Community (2007) by Douglas C. Baynton, Jack R. Gannon, and Jean Lindquist Bergey

Patrick Swift photo
Ian Hacking photo

“Statistics began as the systematic study of quantitative facts about the state.”

Ian Hacking (1936) Canadian philosopher

Source: The Emergence Of Probability, 1975, Chapter 12, Political Arithmetic, p. 102.

Katrina Pierson photo

“I fight against the ‘choice’ vs. born that way. I studied the science being genetic, or hormonal. Either way, it’s an abberation”

Katrina Pierson (1976) Political spokesperson

Twitter, March 1, 2012 https://twitter.com/KatrinaPierson/status/175067688803119104

Michel Foucault photo

“I try to carry out the most precise and discriminative analyses I can in order to show in what ways things change, are transformed, are displaced. When I study the mechanisms of power, I try to study their specificity… I admit neither the notion of a master nor the universality of his law. On the contrary, I set out to grasp the mechanisms of the effective exercise of power; and I do this because those who are inserted in these relations of power, who are implicated therein, may, through their actions, their resistance, and their rebellion, escape them, transform them—in short, no longer submit to them. And if I do not say what ought to be done, it is not because I believe there is nothing to be done. Quite on the contrary, I think there are a thousand things to be done, to be invented, to be forged, by those who, recognizing the relations of power in which they are implicated, have decided to resist or escape them. From this point of view, my entire research rests upon the postulate of an absolute optimism. I do not undertake my analyses to say: look how things are, you are all trapped. I do not say such things except insofar as I consider this to permit some transformation of things. Everything I do, I do in order that it may be of use.”

Michel Foucault (1926–1984) French philosopher

Quand j’étudie les mécanismes de pouvoir, j’essaie d’étudier leur spécificité… Je n’admets ni la notion de maîtrise ni l’universalité de la loi. Au contraire, je m’attache à saisir des mécanismes d’exercise effectif de pouvoir ; et je le fais parce que ceux qui sont insérés dans ces relations de pouvoir, qui y sont impliqués peuvent, dans leurs actions, dans leur résistance et leur rébellion, leur échapper, les transformer, bref, ne plus être soumis. Et si je ne dis pas ce qu’il faut faire, ce n’est pas parce que je crois qu’il n’y a rien à faire. Bien au contraire, je pense qu’il y a mille choses à faire, à inventer, à forger par ceux qui, reconnaissant les relations de pouvoir dans lesquelles ils sont impliqués, ont décidé de leur résister ou de leur échapper. De ce point de vue, toute ma recherche repose sur un postulat d’optimisme absolu. Je n’effectue pas mes analyses pour dire : voilà comment sont les choses, vous êtes piégés. Je ne dis ces choses que dans la mesure où je considère que cela permet de les transformer. Tout ce que je fais, je le fais pour que cela serve.
Dits et Écrits 1954–1988 (1976) Vol. II, 1976–1988 edited by Daniel Defert and François Ewald, p. 911-912

Samuel Taylor Coleridge photo

“Intense study of the Bible will keep any writer from being vulgar, in point of style.”

Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772–1834) English poet, literary critic and philosopher

Specimens of the table talk of the late Samuel Taylor Coleridge, June 14, 1830, (1835) p. 177

William Jennings Bryan photo
Alex Salmond photo
Norman K. Denzin photo
August Krogh photo

“For a large number of problems there will be some animal of choice or a few such animals on which it can be most conveniently studied.”

August Krogh (1874–1949) Danish physiologist

A. Krogh (1929). The progress of physiology, American Journal of Physiology 90:243–251.
See Krogh Principle
Famously quoted by an important microbiologist in: Krebs H. A. (1975). The August Krogh Principle: "For many problems there is an animal on which it can be most conveniently studied." Journal of Experimental Zoology 194:221–226.

Pierre Louis Maupertuis photo
Nasreddin photo

“"Mulla, Mulla, my son has written from the Abode of Learning to say that he has completely finished his studies!"
"Console yourself, madam, with the thought that God will no doubt send him more."”

Nasreddin (1208–1284) philosopher, Sufi and wise man from Turkey, remembered for his funny stories and anecdotes

Idries Shah, The Subtleties of the Inimitable Mulla Nasrudin (1973), , p. 134

Ian Hacking photo
Jean Chrétien photo
George Klir photo

“Applying this approach, systems belonging to different scientific disciplines are investigated in their natural forms. On the basis of experimental results, isomorphic relations between different systems are studied and, finally, some general principles applicable for all systems of a certain class are formulated.”

George Klir (1932–2016) American computer scientist

Source: An approach to general systems theory (1969), p. 97 as cited in: B. Van Rootselaar (2009) Annals of Systems Research. p. 114: About the aim of general systems theory

Donald J. Trump photo

“Donald Trump: Meredith, he spent two million dollars in legal fees trying to get away from this issue. And if he weren't lying, why wouldn't he just solve it? And I wish he would, because if he doesn't, it's one of the greatest scams in the history of politics, and in the history period. You are not allowed to be a president if you're not born in this country. He may not be born in this country. And I'll tell you what, three weeks ago I thought he was born in this country. Right now, I have some real doubts. I have people that actually have been studying it and they cannot believe what they're finding.
Meredith Vieira: You have people now, down there searching—
Trump: Absolutely.
Vieira: I mean, in Hawaii?
Trump: Absolutely. And they cannot believe what they're finding. I would like to have him show his birth certificate, and can I be honest with you, I hope he can. Because if he can't, if he can't, if he wasn't born in this country, which is a real possibility, I'm not saying it hap— I'm saying it's a real possibility, much greater than I thought two or three weeks ago, then he has pulled one of the great cons in the history of politics. And beyond politics.”

Donald J. Trump (1946) 45th President of the United States of America

Today
2011-04-07
NBC
Television
regarding Barack Obama
Two million dollars is the sum of all the Obama presidential campaign's post-election legal expenses. http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2011/apr/12/donald-trump/donald-trump-claims-obama-has-spent-2-million-lega/
2010s, 2011

Thomas Eakins photo
Vitruvius photo
Alexander von Humboldt photo
Graham Greene photo
Suze Robertson photo

“What a struggle I had to make on that ['Mother and Child']. You would say, a nice assignment to make something good out of it, isn't it. I myself thought it that way. So I went to Heeze, I made a mass of studies of women with children, came back with the sketches to my studio... Oh, what an obsession..”

Suze Robertson (1855–1922) Dutch painter

(version in original Dutch / origineel citaat van Suze Robertson:) Wat heb ik dáár op getobd ['Moeder en Kind']. Ge zoudt zeggen, niet waar: 'n opgaaf [opdracht] om best iets goed van te maken. Dat dacht ik ook. 'k ging dus naar nl:Heeze, maakte er massa's studies van vrouwen met kinderen, kwam daarmee op m'n atelier terug.. .Maar wat een obsessie..
Source: 1900 - 1922, Onder de Menschen: Suze Robertson' (1912), p. 34

“Information science is identified as… the study of the communication of information in society. This meaning is only beginning to emerge from its practical background, the social activity of facilitating information transfer.”

Brian Campbell Vickery (1918–2009) British information theorist

Source: Information Science in Theory and Practice (1987), p. 1; As cited in: Lyn Robinson and David Bawden (2011).

Nicholas Wade photo
Ragnar Frisch photo
Bill Maher photo

“Government — they used to teach it in college. It's actually something you should study and learn and know how to do. The Republicans always run on the idea that government isn't very effective. Well, not the way you do it. But it can be effective.”

Bill Maher (1956) American stand-up comedian

As quoted in "Real talk with Bill Maher" by Joan Walsh at Salon.com (16 February 2007) http://www.salon.com/ent/tv/int/2007/02/16/maher/index2.html

Alfred Horsley Hinton photo
Koenraad Elst photo
John Wallis photo
Thomas Carlyle photo
Vincent Van Gogh photo

“Of course I should be very happy to sell a drawing but I am happier still when a real artist like Weissenbruch says about an unsalable??? study or drawing: "That is true to nature, I could work from that myself."”

Vincent Van Gogh (1853–1890) Dutch post-Impressionist painter (1853-1890)

quote in his letter to brother Theo, from The Hague, The Netherlands in Febr. 1882; 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, p. 20 (letter 177)
1880s, 1882

Filippo Tommaso Marinetti photo

“Try to live the war pictorially studying it in all its mechanical forms (military trains, fortifications, wounded men, ambulances, hospitals, parades, etc).”

Filippo Tommaso Marinetti (1876–1944) Italian poet and editor, founder of the Futurist movement

In a letter to Gino Severini, 20 November 1914; as quoted in Futurism, Tisdall and Bozsolla, Thames and Hudson, 1973, p. 190
1910's

Colin Wilson photo
Edmund White photo
Alexander Alekhine photo

“I study chess eight hours a day, on principle.”

Alexander Alekhine (1892–1946) Russian / French chess player, chess writer, and chess theoretician

Attributed in: David Hooper, ‎Kenneth Whyld (1996) The Oxford companion to chess. p. 8.

Courtney Love photo

“Oh, make me over
I'm all I wanna be
A walking study
In demonology”

Courtney Love (1964) American punk singer-songwriter, musician, actress, and artist

"Celebrity Skin"
Song lyrics, Celebrity Skin (1998)

Isaiah Berlin photo
Charles Lyell photo
Isaac Barrow photo
Alfred de Zayas photo

“Representative democracy betrays the electorate when laws have no roots in the people but in oligarchies. Studies on the concept and modalities of direct democracy are therefore becoming more topical”

Alfred de Zayas (1947) American United Nations official

Alfred-Maurice de Zayas 2013 Report of the Independent Expert on the promotion of a democratic and equitable international order
2013

Margaret Mead photo
Brad Paisley photo
William John Macquorn Rankine photo
Warren Buffett photo
Madison Grant photo
Warren Farrell photo
Aron Ra photo

“[Religion] is literally a delusion, but one caused by conditioning rather than pathology. There are a number of studies showing a negative correlation of faith as debilitating certain areas of the brain. So religion can lead to, conceal, or even encourage mental disorders without actually being one itself.”

Aron Ra (1962) Aron Ra is an atheist activist and the host of the Ra-Men Podcast

Patheos, Anti-theist Answers to Christian Questions http://www.patheos.com/blogs/reasonadvocates/2015/11/22/anti-theist-answers-to-christian-questions/ (November 22, 2015)

Henry Adams photo
Willem Roelofs photo

“I hope to compensate this year [in 1866 Roelofs was seriously ill] the damage of so little studies [watercolors and drawings] once and for all because most of the old ones I already used [for his oil-paintings]. (translation from original Dutch: Fons Heijnsbroek)”

Willem Roelofs (1822–1897) Dutch painter and entomologist (1822-1897)

(original Dutch: citaat van Willem Roelofs, in het Nederlands:) Ik hoop dit jaar [in 1866 is Roelofs ernstig ziek geweest] de schade van weinig studies [tekeningen en aquarellen] eens voor goed in te halen want de ouden raken zoowat op [gebruikt voor zijn olie-schilderijen].
In a letter to P. Verloren van Themaat, 10 May 1867; as cited in Willem Roelofs 1822-1897 De Adem der natuur, ed. Marjan van Heteren & Robert-Jan te Rijdt; Thoth, Bussum, 2006, p. 13 - ISBN13 * 978 90 6868 432 2
1860's

Karlheinz Deschner photo

“Theologian — the only kind of scholar who has no knowledge whatsoever of his supposed object of study.”

Karlheinz Deschner (1924–2014) German writer and activist

Theologe – einziger Experte ohne Ahnung von seinem Forschungsobjekt.
Bissige Aphorismen, S. 29

Geoffrey Chaucer photo

“His studie was but litel on the Bible.”

General Prologue, l. 440
The Canterbury Tales

“I was filled with joy when studying quantum physics at the university as a means to understand the universe. But at the same time, I was preoccupied with the oppressive conditions in my country and the tyranny suffered by our universities, intellectuals, and the media. Like many others in our universities, I felt compelled to join the struggle for freedom. What we experience is a decades-old tyranny, that cannot tolerate freedom of speech and thought. In the name of religion, it restricts and punishes science, intellect, and even love. It labels as a threat to national security and toxic to society whatever is not compatible with its political and economic interests. It considers punishing unwelcome ideas as a positive thing. It does not tolerate differences of opinion; it responds to logic not by logic, discussion or dialog, but by suppression. By tyranny I mean a ruling power that tries to make only one voice—the voice of a ruling minority in Iran—dominant, with no regard for pluralism in the society. By tyranny I mean a judiciary that disregards even the Islamic Republic’s own constitution, and sentences intellectuals, writers, journalists, and political and civil activists to long prison terms, without due process and trial in a court of law. … By tyranny I mean power-holders who believe they stand above the law and who disregard justice and the urgent demands of the human conscience.”

Narges Mohammadi (1972) Iranian human rights activist

Letter Accepting 2018 Andrei Sakharov Prizefrom (2018)

Camille Paglia photo

“Women's studies is a comfy, chummy morass of unchallenged groupthink. It is, with rare exception, totally unscholarly. Academic feminists have silenced men and dissenting women.”

Camille Paglia (1947) American writer

Source: Sex, Art and American Culture : New Essays (1992), Junk Bonds and Corporate Raiders : Academe in the Hour of the Wolf, p. 242

Lawrence M. Schoen photo

“I gave destiny a push to make it happen. You study history, so stop your pathetic whining. You know better than most that destiny happens to us, it is never something we call forth.”

Lawrence M. Schoen (1959) American writer and klingonist

Source: Barsk: The Elephants' Graveyard (2015), Chapter 38, “Loose Ends” (p. 354)

Colin Wilson photo
Kazimir Malevich photo

“I recommend [the students] that you should work actively at the Hermitage and study the artistic structures of Rubens, Rembrandt, Titian, Watteau, Poussin, and other painters, even Chardin, where he is an artist. Study very closely their dabbing manner of execution and try to copy a small piece of canvas, just one square inch.”

Kazimir Malevich (1879–1935) Russian and Soviet artist of polish descent

Quote in a letter of Malevich to his student Yudin, summer of 1924; as quoted in Marc Chagall – the Russian years 1906 – 1922, ed. By Christoph Vitali, exhibition catalogue, Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt, 1991, p. 66
1921 - 1930

Linus Pauling photo

“Only when I began studying chemical engineering at Oregon Agricultural College did I realize that I myself might discover something new about the nature of the world.”

Linus Pauling (1901–1994) American scientist

Linus Pauling In His Own Words (1995) by Barbara Marinacci.
1990s

“Reality, in its quantitative aspect, must be considered as a system of populations… The general study of the equilibria and dynamics of populations seems to have no name; but as it has probably reached its highest development in the biological study known as 'ecology,' this name may well be given to it.”

Kenneth E. Boulding (1910–1993) British-American economist

Source: 1950s, A Reconstruction of Economics, 1950, p. 5. as cited in: Robert A. Solow (1994) " Kenneth Ewart Boulding: 1910-1993. An Appreciation http://www.jstor.org/stable/4226892". In: Journal of Economic Issues. Vol. 28, No. 4 (Dec., 1994), pp. 1187-1200

Nicomachus photo
Lois McMaster Bujold photo
Calvin Coolidge photo
Robert T. Kiyosaki photo

“[…]schools reward people who study more and more about less and less.”

Robert T. Kiyosaki (1947) American finance author , investor

Rich Dad Poor Dad: What the Rich Teach Their Kids About Money-That the Poor and the Middle Class Do Not!

Miyamoto Musashi photo
Daniel Goleman photo
Timothy Leary photo
Georg Simmel photo
Virgil Miller Newton photo

“Second, I use inference from technical studies and theories in order to provide practical information for therapists. Those thoughts are several steps removed from scientific validity.”

Virgil Miller Newton (1938) American priest

Miller Newton (1995). Adolescence: Guiding Youth Through the Perilous Ordeal. W.W. Norton and Company, NY, NY, pg 7.
Treatment Approach

Colin Wilson photo
Edgar Degas photo
Dogen photo
William L. Shirer photo
Vannevar Bush photo
Pope Benedict XVI photo

“Christianity is not a highly complicated collection of so many dogmas that it is impossible for anyone to know them all; it is not something exclusively for academicians who can study these things, but it is something simple: God exists and God is close in Jesus Christ.”

Pope Benedict XVI (1927) 265th Pope of the Catholic Church

remarks http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/speeches/2007/july/documents/hf_ben-xvi_spe_20070724_clero-cadore_en.html at Auronzo di Cadore (24 July 2007)
2007

Roman Polanski photo
Gertrude Stein photo
François Fénelon photo

“The greatest defect of common education is, that we are in the habit of putting pleasure all on one side, and weariness on the other; all weariness in study, all pleasure in idleness.”

François Fénelon (1651–1715) Catholic bishop

Remarquez un grand défaut des éducations ordinaires: on met tout le plaisir d'un côté , et tout l'ennui de l'autre; tout l'ennui dans l'étude, tout le plaisir dans les divertissements.
De l'éducation des filles, ch. 5, cited from De l’éducation des filles, dialogues des morts et opuscules divers (Paris: Firmin Didot, 1857) p. 21; translation from Selections from the Writings of Fénelon (Boston: Hilliard, Gray, Little and Wilkins, 1829) p. 72.

John Lancaster Spalding photo