Samuel Richardson Quotes

Goethe has made a remark upon the perfectability of the human mind, which is full of sagacity: It is always advancing, but in a spiral line.

The perfectibility of the human mind is a theme that has captured our imagination for centuries - the notion that, with the right tools, the right approach, the right attitude, we might become better, smarter versions of ourselves.

As far as mental development is concerned, we should never be complacent. We can develop our minds infinitely - there is no limitation.

“How does one grow up?” I asked a friend the other day. There was a slight pause; then she answered, “By thinking.”

Man, unlike anything organic or inorganic in the universe, grows beyond his work, walks up the stairs of his concepts, emerges ahead of his accomplishments.

The trained mind is a rich mind.

The purpose of learning is growth, and our minds, unlike our bodies, can continue growing as we continue to live.

The march of the human mind is slow.

The great end of education is to discipline rather than to furnish the mind; to train it to the use of its own powers, rather than fill it with the accumulation of others.

A human being is a being who is constantly 'under construction,' but also, in a parallel fashion, always in a state of constant destruction.

I often feel intellectually frustrated when I'm in a position where I'm not moving forward; when I'm not enquiring about something.

The mind is lowered through association with inferiors. With equals it attains equality; and with superiors, superiority.

Only stupid people don't change their minds.

Your mind is just like your body. It's a muscle you can train and get better at.

My body had to mature, and my mind had to mature. I had to put these pieces together.

We are to regard the mind, not as a piece of iron to be laid upon the anvil and hammered into any shape, nor as a block of marble in which we are to find the statue by removing the rubbish, nor as a receptacle into which knowledge may be poured; but as a flame that is to be fed, as an active being that must be strengthened to think and to feel -- and to dare, to do, and to suffer.

Continual learning is the key to continual living.

You’re in charge of your mind. You can help it grow by using it in the right way.

Unlike physical progress, which is subject to natural restrictions, the qualities of the mind can be developed limitlessly.

I just think if you're 44 years old and you're not smarter than you were when you were 35 years old or 25 years old, just stay in your room.

At present we educate people only up to the point where they can earn a living and marry; then education ceases altogether, as though a complete mental outfit had been acquired. ... Vast numbers of men and women thus spend their entire lives in complete ignorance of the most important things.

The mind never need stop growing. Indeed, one of the few experiences which never pall is the experience of watching one's own mind and how it produces new interests, responds to new stimuli, and develops new thoughts, apparently without effort and almost independently of one's own conscious control.

My contemplation of life and human nature in that secluded place [cell 54 of Cairo Central Prison] taught me that he who cannot change the very fabric of his thought will never, therefore, make any progress.

The growth of the mind is the widening of the range of consciousness, and each step forward has been a most painful and laborious achievement.

Of all literary exercitations, whether designed for the use or entertainment of the world, there are none of so much importance, or so immediately our concern, as those which let us into the knowledge of our own nature. Others may exercise the understanding or amuse the imagination; but these only can improve the heart and form the human mind to wisdom.