Neil deGrasse Tyson Quotes

My number one goal was not getting 'A's' - and I proved it. I was a 'C' student. You have to be ready to learn. If you're not interesting in learning, it doesn't work. As I grew older and wanted to learn and desperately wanted inside information, learning was a lot easier.

You can't make someone learn something - you really can't teach someone something - they have to want to learn it. And if they want to learn, they will.

I was always curious. I wanted to learn a little about a lot of things, and I really had to get pushed to achieve.

I greatly enjoy reading the biographies of scientists, and when doing so I always hope to learn the secrets of their success. Alas, those secrets generally remain elusive.

I act because I have to, because I need to find out whether I can do it or not - that's what drives me and excites me and lights me up.

I approached the bulk of my schoolwork as a chore rather than an intellectual adventure.

I wasn't driven into medicine by a social conscience but by rampant curiosity.

Actually, I've never thought myself as being a particularly hard worker. I've always worked, and I guess my mind is busy all the time. I've been in a lot of things just because of my own intellectual curiosity.

Education is not something where you just tip your head and they pour it in your ear. You’ve got to want it.

I talk often about being intrinsically motivated by learning. It's the primary driver of most of my activity.

The thing about school is that if you're forced into learning stuff, you're not going to be into it.

Some people are motivated by a need for recognition, some by money, and some by a broad social goal. I start from a different place: from the love of ideas and the urge to put them into motion and see where they might lead.

Just having the hunger to continue to learn motivates me.

We learn best when we're intrinsically motivated - that is, when we try something new for the sheer enjoyment of the experience.

One of the things we know is that you cannot motivate other people, but you can remove the obstacles that stop them from motivating themselves. All motivation is self-motivation.

The only long-term motivation is self motivation. So hire people who are self motivated and get out of their way.

From the very beginning of his education, the child should experience the joy of discovery.

He who leaves school, knowing little, but with a longing for knowledge, will go farther than one who quits, knowing many things, but not caring to learn more.

Curiosity is one of the strongest human incentives

The most successful scientists are not the most talented. But they are the ones who are impelled by curiosity. They've got to know what the answer is

What I have learned from my own experience is that the most important ingredients in a child's education are curiosity, interest, imagination, and a sense of the adventure of life.

Sometimes I hear people talk about discipline of self and I think, if you don't have passion, I might discipline myself for a week or two but only passion will hold me steady.

What induces a child to learn but his delight in knowing?

At school, new ideas are thrust at you every day. Out in the world, you’ll have to find the inner motivation to search for new ideas on your own. With any luck at all, you’ll never need to take an idea and squeeze a punchline out of it, but as bright, creative people, you’ll be called upon to generate ideas and solutions all your lives. Letting your mind play is the best way to solve problems.

Will springs from the two elements of moral sense and self-interest.