The reason why so few good books are written is that so few people who can write know
anything.
—Walter Bagehot, 1853
There are many people who read simply to prevent themselves from thinking.
—Georg Christoph Lichtenberg
16
Reading, after a certain age, diverts the mind too much from its creative pursuits. Any man
who reads too much and uses his own brain too little falls into lazy habits of thinking.
—Albert Einstein, 1929
Books are good enough in their own way, but they are a mighty bloodless substitute for life.
—Robert Louis Stevenson, 1877
***
Knowledge itself is power.
17
—Francis Bacon, 1597
An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest.
—Anonymous
18
All our science, measured against reality, is primitive and childlike – and yet it is the most
precious thing we have.
—Albert Einstein, 1951
We must know. We will know.
—David Hilbert, 1930
***
Knowledge without conscience is but the ruin of the soul.
—François Rabelais, 1532
19
Integrity without knowledge is weak and generally useless, and knowledge without
integrity is dangerous and dreadful.
—Samuel Johnson, 1759
To educate a man in mind and not in morals is to educate a menace to society.
—Theodore Roosevelt
20
Man armed with science is like a baby with a box of matches.
—J. B. S. Haldane, 1924
16
From his Notebook G (1779–1783).
17
This original statement is frequently shortened to just “Knowledge is power”.
18
Broadly attributed to Benjamin Franklin, but not found in Yale’s Franklin Papers.
19
Often misattributed to Michel de Montaigne.
20
As quoted by many, starting not later than 1931.
64
On Education, Reading, and Knowledge