Quotes from Robert M. Hutchins

When we listen to the radio, look at television and read the newspapers we wonder whether universal education has been the great boon that its supporters have always claimed it would be.

The college graduate is presented with a sheepskin to cover his intellectual nakedness.

College football: I do not see the relationship of those highly industrialized affairs on Saturday afternoons to higher learning in America.

Democracy has not failed; the intelligence of the race has failed before the problems the race has raised

It is not so important to be serious as it is to be serious about the important things. The monkey wears an expression of seriousness which would do credit to any college student, but the monkey is serious because he itches.

It must be remembered that the purpose of education is not to fill the minds of students with facts... it is to teach them to think.

For those who are going to learn from books, learning the art of reading would seem to be indispensable.

A student can win twelve letters at a university without learning how to write one.

My idea of education is to unsettle the minds of the young and inflame their intellects.

Education is not to reform students or amuse them or to make them expert technicians. It is to unsettle their minds, widen their horizons, inflame their intellects, teach them to think straight, if possible.

We can put television in its proper light by supposing that Gutenberg's great invention had been directed at printing only comic books.

Whenever I feel like exercise, I lie down until the feeling passes.

We can put it in its proper perspective by supposing that Gutenberg's great invention had been directed at printing only comic books.

Education is a kind of continuing dialogue, and a dialogue assumes different points of view.

The college graduate is presented with a sheepskin to cover his intellectual nakedness.

Education is not to reform students or amuse them or to make them expert technicians. It is to unsettle their minds, widen their horizons, inflame their intellects, teach them to think straight, if possible.

A world community can exist only with world communication, which means something more than extensive short-wave facilities scattered about the globe. It means common understanding, a common tradition, common ideas, and common ideals.

The object of education is to prepare the young to educate themselves throughout their lives.

Football, fraternities, and fun have no place in the university. They were introduced only to entertain those who shouldn't be in the university.

To put an end to the spirit of inquiry that has characterized the West it is not necessary to burn the books. All we have to do is to leave them unread for a few generations.

College football: I do not see the relationship of those highly industrialized affairs on Saturday afternoons to higher learning in America.

Anybody who feels at ease in the world today is a fool.

This is a do-it-yourself test for paranoia: you know you've got it when you can't think of anything that's your fault.

Education can be dangerous. It is very difficult to make it not dangerous. In fact, it is almost impossible.