The desire of knowledge, like the thirst of riches, increases ever with the acquisition of it.

It is not light that we need, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder. We need the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake.

Education is a weapon whose effects depend on who holds it in his hands and at whom it is aimed.

That which is evil is soon learned. 

What harm is there in getting knowledge and learning, were it from a sot, a pot, a fool, a winter mitten, or an old slipper? 

It is a greater advantage to be honestly educated than honorably born.

The period of a [Persian] boy’s education is between the ages of five and twenty, and he is taught three things only: to ride, to use the bow, and to speak the truth.

My own experience is that a certain kind of genius among students is best brought out in bed.

A whale ship was my Yale College and my Harvard.

In the first place God made idiots. This was for practice. Then he made school boards.

I am an old scholar, better-looking now than when I was young. That’s what sitting on your ass does to your face.

In large states public education will always be mediocre, for the same reason that in large kitchens the cooking is usually bad. 

Anyone who has a child should train him to be either a physicist or a ballet dancer. Then he’ll escape.