Joshua Reynolds Quotes

I never let schooling interfere with my education.

I soon gave up instruction for self-teaching.

Self-education is, I firmly believe, the only kind of education there is.

I had no training in research as such, and as a consequence, I am, in a sense, self-taught.

Every man who rises above the common level has received two educations: the first from his teachers; the second, more personal and important, from himself.

You can get help from teachers, but you are going to have to learn a lot by yourself, sitting alone in a room.

School seemed unimportant, since I learned so much more on my own.

There is no greater education than one that is self-driven.

I am always ready to learn although I do not always like being taught.

I learned from my parents the idea that, if you are devoted enough and you want to study something enough, you can really teach yourself anything.

I am your original autodidact.

I'm entirely self-taught, which I think is both a blessing and a curse.

I think a lot of people have grown up with the idea that they can't learn things themselves. They think they need an institution to provide them with knowledge and teach them how to do things. I couldn't disagree more.

My parents would say to me, 'You can teach yourself anything better than someone else can teach it to you.' That was the whole ethos of my family.

You learn best by reading a lot and writing a lot, and the most valuable lessons of all are the ones you teach yourself.

Philosophers have long conceded, however, that every man has two educators: 'that which is given to him, and the other that which he gives himself. Of the two kinds the latter is by far the more desirable. Indeed all that is most worthy in man he must work out and conquer for himself. It is that which constitutes our real and best nourishment. What we are merely taught seldom nourishes the mind like that which we teach ourselves.

First let a man teach himself, and then he will be taught by others.

I've always had better luck learning things on my own. And I really love the challenge of doing it yourself and kind of being alone against the system.

When you home study, you get a better education. I basically got to teach myself. Being naturally able to make my own opinions about the schoolwork I had to deal with, instead of being instructed under the tutelage of the teacher, was really nice academically.

All men who have turned out worth anything have had the chief hand in their own education.

I'm not a trained actor. I'm someone who is autodidactic and learned on my own.

To teach one's self is to be forced to learn twice.

A self-taught man usually has a poor teacher and a worse student.

I never went to university. I'm self-educated. I didn't go because I was too impatient, too arrogant.

Real education must ultimately be limited to men who insist on knowing, the rest is mere sheep-herding.