“Curiosity, especially intellectual inquisitiveness, is what separates the truly alive from those who are merely going through the motions.”

—  Tom Robbins

Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "Curiosity, especially intellectual inquisitiveness, is what separates the truly alive from those who are merely going t…" by Tom Robbins?
Tom Robbins photo
Tom Robbins 250
American writer 1932

Related quotes

Mr. T photo

“You're going through college, and you're going to be faced with a lot of things. You're going to face adversity, the main thing is don't quit. For many people it's easy to quit, but don't. That's what separates the winners from the losers, what separates the all-stars from the also-rans.”

Mr. T (1952) American actor and retired professional wrestler

Attributed

Ai Weiwei photo

“A fine line separates Chinese intellectuals and professors from the political gangsters who protect them.”

Ai Weiwei (1957) Chinese concept artist

2000-09, A Kind of True Living, 2007

Mwanandeke Kindembo photo

“For those of you who are still going through the process of identifying and daily examining your parents, you must not forget the blessings that they are still alive and living together with you.”

Mwanandeke Kindembo (1996) Congolese author
Werner Erhard photo

“You and I want our lives to matter. We want our lives to make a real difference — to be of genuine consequence in the world. We know that there is no satisfaction in merely going through the motions in life, even if those motions make us successful or even if we have arranged to make those motions pleasant. We want to know we have had some impact on the world. In fact, you and I want to contribute to the quality of life. We want to make the world work.”

Werner Erhard (1935) Critical Thinker and Author

Source: The End of Starvation : Creating an Idea Whose Time Has Come, Werner Erhard, 1977, 3 http://www.wernererhard.net/thpsource.html,
Source: Also published in — The end of starvation: creating an idea whose time has come, 3, 1982, Werner Erhard http://books.google.com/books?id=4o4wAAAAMAAJ&q=%22be+of+genuine+consequence+in+the+world%22&dq=%22be+of+genuine+consequence+in+the+world%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=rpyFUvTMB6_MsQT0sYCwDQ&ved=0CDQQ6AEwAQ,
Source: Also quoted in — [The Answer : What do you mean I have to figure it out for myself?, 2001, Quila H. Creig] and — [The Spartan Life 2, Scott Westerman, ‎2012]

Theodore Schultz photo

“This branch of economics has suffered from several intellectual mistakes. The major mistake has been the presumption that standard economic theory is inadequate for understanding low income countries and that a separate economic theory is needed. Models developed for this purpose were widely acclaimed until it became evident that they were at best intellectual curiosities.”

Theodore Schultz (1902–1998) American economist

"The Economics of Being Poor," (1979)

Neil deGrasse Tyson photo

“It's the inspired student that continues to learn on their own. That's what separates the real achievers in the world from those who pedal along, finishing assignments.”

Neil deGrasse Tyson (1958) American astrophysicist and science communicator

Global Ideas from Pluto's Challenger (May 21, 2009)
Context: The best educators are the ones that inspire their students. That inspiration comes from a passion that teachers have for the subject they're teaching. Most commonly, that person spent their lives studying that subject, and they bring an infectious enthusiasm to the audience.I think many people have that enthusiasm, but they are prevented from being teachers because they didn't go through the teacher mill. Now you have teachers who have been through the teacher mill, yet they have no capacity to inspire anyone at all. It's the inspired student that continues to learn on their own. That's what separates the real achievers in the world from those who pedal along, finishing assignments.

Henry George photo

“It is as though an immense wedge were being forced, not underneath society, but through society. Those who are above the point of separation are elevated, but those who are below are crushed down.”

Henry George book Progress and Poverty

Introductory : The Problem
Progress and Poverty (1879)
Context: It is true that wealth has been greatly increased, and that the average of comfort, leisure, and refinement has been raised; but these gains are not general. In them the lowest class do not share. I do not mean that the condition of the lowest class has nowhere nor in anything been improved; but that there is nowhere any improvement which can be credited to increased productive power. I mean that the tendency of what we call material progress is in nowise to improve the condition of the lowest class in the essentials of healthy, happy human life. Nay, more, that it is still further to depress the condition of the lowest class. The new forces, elevating in their nature though they be, do not act upon the social fabric from underneath, as was for a long time hoped and believed, but strike it at a point intermediate between top and bottom. It is as though an immense wedge were being forced, not underneath society, but through society. Those who are above the point of separation are elevated, but those who are below are crushed down.

Edith Wharton photo

“In spite of illness, in spite even of the archenemy sorrow, one can remain alive long past the usual date of disintegration if one is unafraid of change, insatiable in intellectual curiosity, interested in big things, and happy in small ways.”

Edith Wharton (1862–1937) American novelist, short story writer, designer

"A First Word"
A Backward Glance http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks02/0200271.txt (1934)

Tom Robbins photo

“If you're honest, you sooner or later have to confront your values. Then you're forced to separate what is right from what is merely legal.”

Tom Robbins book Still Life with Woodpecker

Source: Still Life with Woodpecker (1980)
Context: If you're honest, you sooner or later have to confront your values. Then you're forced to separate what is right from what is merely legal. This puts you metaphysically on the run. America is full of metaphysical outlaws.

Related topics