Prejudices are what fools use for reason.
VoltaireRead
The multitude of books is making us ignorant.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The overwhelming number of books can lead to confusion and ignorance rather than enlightenment.
In this quote, Voltaire suggests that while books are meant to educate and inform, an excess of literature can have the opposite effect, resulting in ignorance. This points to the idea that quality and critical thinking are more important than quantity when it comes to knowledge acquisition.
Themes
BooksIgnoranceKnowledgeEducationReading
In practice
Example use cases
This quote could be used during a lecture about the importance of critical reading in academia.
More from Voltaire
All quotes βHe was a great patriot, a humanitarian, a loyal friend; provided, of course, he really is dead.
VoltaireRead
It is dangerous to be right in matters where established men are wrong.
VoltaireRead
It is not sufficient to see and to know the beauty of a work. We must feel and be affected by it.
VoltaireRead
We are all full of weakness and errors; let us mutually pardon each other our follies - it is the first law of nature.
VoltaireRead
It is better to risk saving a guilty man than to condemn an innocent one.
VoltaireRead
Similar quotes
The child awakens to a universe. The mind of the child to a world of meaning. Imagination to a world of beauty. Emotions to a world of intimacy. It takes a universe to make a child both in outer form and inner spirit. It takes a universe to educate a child. A universe to fulfill a child.
Thomas BerryRead
This pedagogy makes oppression and its causes objects of reflection by the oppressed, and from that reflection will come their necessary engagement in the struggle for their liberation. And in the struggle this pedagogy will be made and remade
Paulo FreireRead
Eighty percent of the cases used in the typical MBA program are about successful companies. Students graduate with this notion that 'If I do everything that the people in those cases did, then my organization will grow and be successful, too.'
Clayton M. ChristensenRead
There are many problems, but I think there is a solution to all these problems, it's just one and it's education. You educate all the girls and boys. You give them the opportunity to learn.
Malala YousafzaiRead
As the growth mindset has become more popular and taken hold, we are beginning to find that there are pitfalls. Many educators misunderstand or misapply the concepts.
Carol S. DweckRead
I think it's very important that we instill in our kids that it has nothing to do with their name or their situation that they're growing up in; it has to do with who they are as an individual.
Melinda GatesRead