It is of no use to commit whole pages to memory, merely to recite them once without hesitation; you must think of the meaning more than the words - of the ideas more than the language.
Interpretation
Understanding ideas is more important than memorizing words.
This quote emphasizes that true learning comes from grasping concepts and ideas rather than just memorizing information verbatim. Dorothea Dix encourages the focus on the underlying meanings, suggesting that critical thinking is vital in the learning process, as it enables deeper comprehension and retention of knowledge.
In practice
In a lecture on education, when discussing effective teaching methods.
Steady, firm, and kind government of prisoners is the truest humanity and the best exercise of duty. It is with convicts as with children: unseasonable indulgence, indiscreetly granted, leads to mischiefs which we may deplore but cannot repair.
I was early taught by sorrow to shed tears, and now when sudden joy lights up, or any unexpected sorrow strikes my heart, I find it difficult to repress the full and swelling tide of feeling.
I shall be well enough when I get to Kentucky or Alabama. The tonic I need is the tonic of opposition. That always sets me on my feet.
Time passed solely in the pursuit of pleasure leaves no solid enjoyment for the future; but from the hours you spend in reading and studying useful books, you will gather a golden harvest in future years.
With care and patience, people may accomplish things which, to an indolent person, would appear impossible.
My wish is to be known only thru my work.
Reading is an exercise in empathy; an exercise in walking in someone else's shoes for a while.
Let us thank all those who teach in Catholic schools. Educating is an act of love; it is like giving life.
Of all the inanimate objects, of all men's creations, books are the nearest to us for they contain our very thoughts, our ambitions, our indignations, our illusions, our fidelity to the truth, and our persistent leanings to error. But most of all they resemble us in their precious hold on life.
The Bible, when not read in schools, is seldom read in any subsequent period of life...The Bible...should be read in our schools in preference to all other books because it contains the greatest portion of that kind of knowledge which is calculated to produce private and public happiness.
One's work may be finished someday, but one's education never.
Those who teach by their doctrine must teach by their life, or else they pull down with one hand what they build up with the other.
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