J. D. Salinger Quotes

Anyone who acquires more than the usual amount of knowledge concerning a subject is bound to leave it as his contribution to the knowledge of the world.

In my teens, I developed a passionate idolatry for a teacher of English literature. I wanted to do something that he would approve of more, so I thought I should be some sort of a scholar.

The business of a scientific school is the dissemination of useful knowledge, and this is a noble enterprise and indispensable withal; society can not exist unless it goes on.

People disparage knowing and the intellectual life, and urge doing. I am content with knowing, if only I could know.

There are more men ennobled by study than by nature.

I am not one who was born in the possession of knowledge; I am one who is fond of antiquity, and earnest in seeking it there.

It's tempting to say the Ph.D. didn't have an effect, but it's not so. I think whatever resonance I may be able to achieve is in part simply from the amount of reading and learning that I acquired along the way.

Young men should prove theorems, old men should write books.

It's always extremely interesting to speak at colleges. My books are taught in many colleges in America and are part of the educational system, so it's really important to me. I don't believe in so many things in life, but something I believe in is education.

They greatly respected scholarship in itself, but they also impressed upon us that there were great opportunities available for those who were well educated. I received my primary and secondary education in Chicago.

Heroes to me are guys that sit in libraries. They absorb knowledge and then the risks they take are calculated on the basis of the courage it took to become replete with knowledge.

Some for renown, on scraps of learning dote, And think they grow immortal as they quote.

Looking ahead, I believe that the underlying importance of higher education, of science, of technology, of research and scholarship to our quality of life, to the strength of our economy, to our security in many dimensions will continue to be the most important message.

My whole life was geared toward being a highly educated person.

I really love research. It's one of the things I love most about my job. I feel like it's me in the lab cooking up the character.

The ink of the scholar is more sacred than the blood of the martyr.

A table is not blessed if it has fed no scholars.

I tell kids to be as passionate about your education as you are about anything else in life.

A book is quite a beautiful thing, even more so learning. Together, however, all they amount to is called book-learning.

We prize books, and they prize them most who are themselves wise.

Students may feel the criticism is harsh, but I think it's possible they haven't had criticism before. It's my job to point out when something is badly done, or when there's no point of view. To build a brand you have to have something about you. If not personality, then some thought process. I'm 40, and they're young, so they're meant to be informing me. They should be bringing me a book or something that I haven't seen, not like some obscure chant book by Dominican monks, but an image of the way they see the world.

Education is the way to achieve far-reaching results, it is the proper way to promote compassion and tolerance in society.

The drive to learn is as strong as the sexual drive. It begins earlier and lasts longer

In my whole life, I have known no wise people who didn't read all the time - none ... ZERO.

If a man keeps cherishing his old knowledge so as continually to be acquiring new, he may be a teacher of others.