Andre Maurois Quotes

Be less curious about people and more curious about ideas.

I never stop making sure that what I say is the best of what could be said about a particular thing. It's a constant evolution. If I planted a tree one way yesterday, and somebody tells me of a better way to plant a tree, I think, 'You know, they're right, that's better.' Then I change my way to accommodate the new way of planting trees.

An intelligent person is never afraid or ashamed to find errors in his understanding of things.

Books open your mind, broaden your mind, and strengthen you as nothing else can.

There is no guru like our own mistakes.

I think it's important to always stay critical. But rather than dwelling on it and wishing I could change something, it's important to just take those lessons learned and those new notes and apply them to the next thing.

Being a former engineer, you learn to always go back, study yourself, see what you could've done differently, see what you could've said.

It's much nicer to be praised than to be damned. But you have to have a certain sense of your own priorities and ideas about what works and what doesn't because otherwise, if you're just looking for eternal validation all the time, you can be motivated by the wrong things and I don't think it's as personally satisfying in your own work.

A fresh mind keeps the body fresh. Take in the ideas of the day, drain off those of yesterday.

Without improving our mind there is no way to solve our human problems.

Experiences isn't the best teacher - evaluated experience is.

Many adults, whether consciously or unconsciously, find it beneath their adult dignity to do anything as childish as read a book, think a thought, or get an idea. Adults are rarely embarrased at having forgotten what little algebra or geography they once learned

I used my mind, and then eventually the method I used allowed me to master my craft.

Change your mind about something significant every day.

I don't usually read reviews. I usually read the interviews, just because I figure it's a good way to try to do them better if I ever have to do them again.

Experience teaches nothing, but evaluated experience teaches everything.

Any year that you don't destroy one of your best-loved ideas is probably a wasted year

Next time I will ..." "From now on I will ..." - What makes me think I am wiser today than I will be tomorrow?

Once in seven years I burn all my sermons; for it is a shame, if I cannot write better sermons now than I did seven years ago.

He says, you have to study and learn so that you can make up your own mind about history and everything else but you can’t make up an empty mind. Stock your mind, stock your mind. It is your house of treasure and no one in the world can interfere with it. If you won the Irish Sweepstakes and bought a house that needed furniture would you fill it with bits and pieces of rubbish? Your mind is your house and if you fill it with rubbish from the cinemas it will rot in your head. You might be poor, your shoes might be broken, but your mind is a palace.

The grand result of schooling is a mind with just vision to discern, with free force to do: the grand schoolmaster is Practice.

Note to self: It’s a good idea to ask, “What am I not doing?

I always have on my mind the thought that next year I must do something greater, something more wonderful.

I believe that having an open mind is one of the most important qualities we can possess. Once our minds close, we stop evolving.

I think the only thing that I really thought about, I am always every year thinking about how I can get better, how my stuff can get better, how our team can improve.