Anytime you see a turtle up on top of a fence post, you know he had some help.
Alex HaleyRead
I certainly wasn't seeking any degree, the way a college confers a status symbol upon its students. My homemade education gave me, with every additional book that I read, a little bit more sensitivity to the deafness, dumbness and blindness that was afflicting the black race in America. Not long ago, an English writer telephoned me, asking questions. One was, "What's your alma mater?" I told him, "Books.
Interpretation
What this quote means
True education comes from self-study and personal experience rather than formal credentials.
In this quote, Alex Haley emphasizes the significance of self-education over formal schooling, highlighting that his real learning came from the books he read and the personal insights he gained. He reflects on how this journey of unstructured learning made him more aware of the struggles faced by the black community, suggesting that true wisdom is often found outside traditional academic settings.
Themes
EducationSelf-StudyWisdomBooksAwareness
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about lifelong learning, you could say, 'As Alex Haley put it, my alma mater is books.'
More from Alex Haley
All quotes βTying the little folks with the older folks is a great and powerful tool to preserve and to protect the family and the individual.
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That's what happens with writing. Ingredients bubble and cook. Material becomes substance.
Alex HaleyRead
I think one of the most fascinating things you can do after you learn about your own people is to study something about the history and culture of other people.
Alex HaleyRead
In every conceivable manner, the family is link to our past, bridge to our future.
Alex HaleyRead
Either you deal with what is the reality, or you can be sure that the reality is going to deal with you.
Alex HaleyRead
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I speak as a man of the world to men of the world; and I say to you, Search the Scriptures! The Bible is the book of all others, to be read at all ages, and in all conditions of human life; not to be read once or twice or thrice through, and then laid aside, but to be read in small portions of one or two chapters every day, and never to be intermitted, unless by some overruling necessity.
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Education fails unless the Three R's at one end of the school spectrum lead ultimately to the Four P's at the other-Preparati on for Earning, Preparation for Living, Preparation for Understanding, Preparation for Participation in the problems involved in the making of a better world.
Norman CousinsRead
In the matter of learning, the difference between the earnest and the careless student stands out clearly. The same holds true in the mastering of passion and the weaknesses to which our nature is subject, as in the acquiring of virtue.
Saint IgnatiusRead