
It's not that I don't give a damn. It's just that I don't really care about the student evaluations. Dr. Henry Tosi University of Florida Outreach Engineering Management Program, Final Day of Organizational Behavior Course, December 8, 2007

Liberals objecting to learning by yourself is just like Munchausen's by proxy — they need you to appreciate them and they need the attention. Dennis Miller Comedy Central

Education is too important to be left to government. The freer parents and entrepreneurs are, the more innovative American schooling will be — and the more children will learn. John Stossel

Slacker: One who has developed a method of operation that requires less than half the effort of the average person's, while achieving comparable results, thereby freeing up time to pursue more enjoyable activities. Brady Lessard Your Guide to Slide: The Slacker's Guide to College

You are the true dreamers, and dreams accomplish wonderful things. Jaime Escalante Stand and Deliver

Know what you love and do what you love. If you don't do what you love, you're just wasting your time. Billy Joel From "Newsweek," according to http://www.radiantpeace.org/gallery.htm

If you don't do what you love you are not going to be good at it. And if you are not good at it you are not going to make any money doing it. Donald Trump http://www.beautiful-landscape.com/Thoughts46.html

Making people say what they mean is not just half the battle, it is victory. Ted Keer Rebirth of Reason (http://rebirthofreason.com/Forum/NewsDiscussions/1742.shtml#12)

That we can really address [global warming] by changing our light bulbs, or that we can really make an impact by unplugging our appliances when we‘re not using them, is very much out of whack. So if we're only [going to] do symbolic actions, I would like to suggest a few symbolic actions that…might really mean something. One of them, which is very simple, [of which] 99% of the American population doesn‘t care, is ban private jets. Nobody needs to fly in them, ban them now. And…in addition, let‘s have the NRDC,…the Sierra Club and Greenpeace make it a rule that all of their…members, cannot fly on private jets, they must get their houses off the grid, they must live in the way that they‘re telling everyone else to live. And if they won‘t do that, why should we? And why should we take them seriously? Michael Crichton http://www.michaelcrichton.net/GlobalWarmingDebate.pdf

Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently. Henry Ford

Making workable choices occurs in a crucible of informative mistakes. Thus Intelligence accepts fallibility. And when absolute (infallible) choices are not known, Intelligence takes chance with limited data in an arena where mistakes are not only possible but also necessary. Frank Herbert Darwi Odrade character in _Chapterhouse Dune_

One cannot apprehend that which is automatically, until one recognizes the particulars as they are and not. Bridget Armozel When I was talking about science education with a friend a while back.

Children are educated by what the grown-up is, and not by his talk. Carl Gustav Jung

If we don't formally teach our children how to think — society will teach them not to. Camp Indecon website http://www.campindecon.org/content-philosophy.html

Education rears disciples, imitators, and routinists, not pioneers of new ideas and creative geniuses. . . . The mark of the creative mind is that it defies a part of what it has learned or, at least, adds something new to it. Ludwig von Mises Bureaucracy

He brings disaster upon his nation who never sows a seed, or lays a brick, or weaves a garment, but makes politics his occupation. Kahil Gibran Spiritual Sayings of Kahlil Gibran - LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGUE CARD NO.: 62-19768

Christ, in terms of the Christian philosophy, is the human ideal. He personifies that which men should strive to emulate. Yet, according to the Christian mythology, he died on the cross not for his own sins but for the sins of the non-ideal people. In other words, a man of perfect virtue was sacrificed for men who are vicious and who are expected or supposed to accept that sacrifice. If I were a Christian, nothing would make me more indignant than that: the notion of sacrificing the ideal to the non-ideal, or virtue to vice. And it is in the name of that symbol that men are asked to sacrifice themselves for their inferiors. That is precisely how the symbolism is used. Ayn Rand “Playboy’s Interview with Ayn Rand,” – ARL p 411

The alleged short-cut to knowledge, which is faith, is only a short-circuit destroying the mind. Ayn Rand GS, FNI, 157 – ARL p 158

He brings disaster upon his nation who never sows a seed, or lays a brick, or weaves a garment, but makes politics his occupation. Kahlil Gibran Spiritual Sayings of Kahlil Gibran

A religion is sometime a source of happiness, and I WOULD NOT DEPRIVE ANYONE OF HAPPINESS. But it is a comfort appropriate FOR THE WEAK, not for the strong. The great trouble with religion — any religion — is that a religionist, having accepted certain propositions by faith, cannot thereafter judge those propositions by evidence. One may bask at the warm fire of faith or choose to live in the bleak certainty of reason - BUT ONE CANNOT HAVE BOTH. Robert Anson Heinlein Friday

“If I ask people whether they believe in life, they never understand what I mean. It's a bad question. It can mean so much that it really means nothing. So I ask them if they believe in God. And if they say they do, then I know they don't believe in life. Why? God — whatever anyone chooses to call God — is one's highest conception of the highest possible. And whoever places his highest conception above his own possibility thinks very little of himself and his life. It's a rare gift, you know, to feel reverence for your own life and to want the best, the greatest, the highest possible, here, now, for your very own.” Ayn Rand We the Living

Faith in the supernatural begins as faith in the superiority of others. Ayn Rand GS, FNI, 200 – ARL p 158

Faith and force . . . are corollaries: every period of history dominated by mysticism, was a period of statism, of dictatorship, of tyranny. Ayn Rand “Faith and Force: The Destroyers of the Modern World,” PWNI, 80 – ARL p 158

Playboy: Has no religion, in your estimation, ever offered anything of constructive value to human life? Rand: Qua religion, no — in the sense of blind belief, belief unsupported by, or contrary to, the facts of reality and the conclusion of reason. Faith, as such, is extremely detrimental to human life: it is the negation of reason. But you must remember that religion is an early form of philosophy, that the first attempts to explain the universe, to give a coherent frame of reference to man’s life and code of moral values, were made by religion, before man graduated or developed enough to have philosophy. And, as philosophies, some religions have very valuable moral points. They may have a good influence or proper principles to inculcate, but in a very contradictory context and, on a very—how shall I say it?—dangerous or malevolent base: on the ground of faith. Ayn Rand “Playboy’s Interview with Ayn Rand,” – ARL p 411

Never underestimate the power of human stupidity. Robert A. Heinlein Excerpts from the Notebooks of Lazarus Long/Time Enough for Love

God is omnipotent, omniscient, and omni-benevolent--it says so right here on the label. If you have a mind capable of believing all three of these divine attributes simultaneously, I have a wonderful bargain for you. No checks, please. Cash and in small bills.  Robert Anson Heinlein Excerpts from the Notebooks of Lazarus Long/Time Enough for Love

Beswick took over ... in a flurry of MBA jargon ... which ended up defeating us. There were executive summaries, flow charts, key accounts, spread sheets, listener psychographics, membership marketing plans, and strategic alliances -- all of which, in the end, amounted to bullshit. Deborah Coddington Page 131 of Perigo! Politically Incorrect

This was a subtle but complete misunderstanding of Simonyi’s intention and practice, and it just goes to show you that if you write convoluted, dense academic prose nobody will understand it and your ideas will be misinterpreted and then the misinterpreted ideas will be ridiculed even when they weren’t your ideas. Joel Spolsky http://joelonsoftware.com/articles/Wrong.html

Overly "permissive" parents tend to produce highly anxious children. By this I mean parents who back away from any leadership role; who treat all family members as equal not only in dignity but also in knowledge and authority; and who strive to teach no values and uphold no standards for fear of "imposing" their "biases" on their children. Nathaniel Branden Six Pillars of Self Esteem

"Dad," I said, "I want to go to the Moon." "Certainly," he answered . . . . "I said it was all right. Go ahead." "Yes . . . but how?" "Eh?" He looked mildly surprised. "Why, that's your problem, Clifford." Robert A. Heinlein Have Space Suit Will Travel

Humorlessness should be grounds for dismissal. Camille Paglia "Junk Bond & Corporate Raiders," on her remedy to reform academe

Double-posts are bastard children of the troubled mind. Alec Mouhibian

There is no better way to cultivate taste in words, than by constantly reading the best English. None of the words and expressions which are taboo in good society will be found in books of proved literary standing. But it must not be forgotten that there can be a vast difference between literary standing and popularity, and that many of the “best sellers” have no literary merit whatsoever. Emily Post Etiquette (1922) - http://www.bartleby.com/95/8.html

Experience holds a dear school, but a fool will learn in no other. Benjamin Franklin The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin

When words lose their meaning, people lose their liberty. Confucius

America's high schools are obsolete. By obsolete, I don't just mean that they're broken, flawed or underfunded, though a case could be made for every one of those points. By obsolete, I mean our high schools even when they're working as designed cannot teach all our students what they need to know today. William (Bill) H. Gates http://asia.news.yahoo.com/050227/ap/d88gh7do0.html

I have never let my schooling interfere with my education. Mark Twain

Those who educate children well are more to be honored than they who produce them; for these only gave them life, those the art of living well.  Aristotle

You can lead a boy to college but you can't make him think. Elbert Hubbard

Anybody can become angry - that is easy, but to be angry with the right person and to the right degree and at the right time and for the right purpose, and in the right way - that is not within everybody's power and is not easy.  Aristotle

Give so much time to the improvement of yourself that you have no time to criticize others. Thomas Jefferson

There are three schoolmasters for everybody that will employ them - the senses, intelligent companions, and books. Henry Ward Beecher

I sit with Shakespeare and he winces not. Across the color line I move arm in arm with Balzac and Dumas, where smiling men and welcoming women glide in gilded halls. From out the caves of evening that swing between the strong-limbed earth and the tracery of the stars, I summon Aristotle and Aurelius and what soul I will, and they come all graciously with no scorn nor condescension. So, wed with Truth, I dwell above the Veil. Is this the life you grudge us, O knightly America? Is this the life you long to change into the dull red hideousness of Georgia? Are you so afraid lest peering from this high Pisgah, between Philistine and Amalekite, we sight the Promised Land? W. E. B. DuBois The Souls of the Black Folk

Books are the quietest and most constant of friends... they are the most accessible and the wisest of counselors, and the most patient of teachers. Charles W. Eliot (1834-1926) The Happy Life (1896)

Human motivation occurs when folks think themselves competent, to gain or keep things thought valuable, by methods thought efficient. Edward D. Thompson Ed Thompson

Of all ignorance, the ignorance of the educated is the most dangerous. Not only are educated people likely to have more influence, they are the last people to suspect that they don't know what they are talking about when they go outside their narrow fields. Thomas Sowell http://www.capmag.com/article.asp?ID=3856
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