QuoteProject
Every fool believes what his teachers tell him, and calls his credulity science or morality as confidently as his father called it divine revelation.
George Bernard Shaw
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

Blind acceptance of ideas from authority figures can lead to misguided beliefs.

In this quote, George Bernard Shaw criticizes the tendency of individuals to uncritically accept teachings from their educators or authoritative figures. He suggests that many people equate their unquestioning faith in these teachings with higher truths, such as moral or scientific principles, just as they might accept their parents' beliefs as divine truth. This highlights the importance of critical thinking and skepticism in education and belief systems.

Themes

EducationBeliefCritical ThinkingAuthorityScienceMorality

In practice

Example use cases

In a classroom discussion on critical thinking, a teacher might use this quote to encourage students to question what they are taught.

More from George Bernard Shaw

What we want is to see the child in pursuit of knowledge, and not knowledge in pursuit of the child.
George Bernard ShawRead
Marriage is good enough for the lower classes: they have facilities for desertion that are denied to us.
George Bernard ShawRead
Forgive him, for he believes that the customs of his tribe are the laws of nature!
George Bernard ShawRead
Those who talk most about the blessings of marriage and the constancy of its vows are the very people who declare that if the chain were broken and the prisoners left free to choose, the whole social fabric would fly asunder. You cannot have the argument both ways. If the prisoner is happy, why lock him in? If he is not, why pretend that he is?
George Bernard ShawRead
Treat a friend as a person who may someday become your enemy; an enemy as a person who may someday become your friend.
George Bernard ShawRead
The happiness of credulity is a cheap and dangerous quality.
George Bernard ShawRead

Similar quotes

I also feel I'm a positive role model by not putting my education on hold.
Natalie PortmanRead
A man only learns by two things; one is reading and the other is association with smarter people.
Will RogersRead
Everyone [in higher education] was what I call drillers of deeper wells. These academics sit at the bottom of a deep well and they look up and see a sliver of the sky. They know everything about that little sliver of sky and nothing else. I scan all my horizons.
Vaclav SmilRead
The dream begins, most of the time, with a teacher who believes in you.
Dan RatherRead
Here, let me break it down for you, so you know what I say is true: Teachers? Teachers make a difference! Now what about you?
Taylor MaliRead
The love of learning, the sequestered nooks, And all the sweet serenity of books.
Henry Wadsworth LongfellowRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.