Fran Lebowitz Quotes

The books that help you most are those which make you think that most. The hardest way of learning is that of easy reading; but a great book that comes from a great thinker is a ship of thought, deep freighted with truth and beauty.

I read Popular Mechanics, Popular Science, Reader's Digest... I read some responsible journalism, and from that, I form my own opinions. I also happen to be intelligent, and I question everything.

Education is an admirable thing, but it is well to remember from time to time that nothing that is worth knowing can be taught.

Doubt is the origin of wisdom.

I had great mentors in my parents who always sought to understand the world around them. And they would push me to really think things through.

I love to be in the moment. I love to analyse things a bit.

I think it's true we look forward to enormous amounts of information, but I think we would be better off if we thought about the kinds of wisdom and thoughtfulness that we need in order to handle the amount of information ahead.

Oftentimes, I need to write about something in order to understand it.

Do not give your attention to what others do or fail to do; give it to what you do or fail to do.

What is reading but silent conversation?

I know the books that I need to help me to be wiser than my years and be kinder and more compassionate and more patient than I really am.

The second suggestion is to think as well as to read. I know people who read and read, and for all the good it does them they might just as well cut bread-and-butter. They take to reading as better men take to drink. They fly through the shires of literature on a motor-car, their sole object being motion. They will tell you how many books they have read in a year. Unless you give at least 45 minutes to careful, fatiguing reflection (it is an awful bore at first) upon what you are reading, your 90 minutes of a night are chiefly wasted.

Don't read a book and be a follower; read a book and be a student.

The spiritual journey has to do with learning to think more deeply and take as long a time as we need. That's the path to wisdom.

Read less, study less, but think more

Anger or hatred is like a fisherman's hook. It is very important for us to ensure that we are not caught by it.

I think it is terribly important to have opinions, and to think. We live in a world of action without thought.

But we do need a breather. We do need knowledge. And perhaps in a thousand years we might pick smaller cliffs to jump off. The books are to remind us what asses and fools we are. They’re Caesar’s praetorian guard, whispering as the parade roars down the avenue, ‘Remember, Caesar, thou art mortal.’ Most of us can’t rush around, talk to everyone, know all the cities of the world, we haven’t time, money or that many friends. The things you’re looking for, Montag, are in the world, but the only way the average chap will ever see ninety-nine per cent of them is in a book.

I hate books; they only teach people to talk about what they don't understand.

Once children learn how to learn, nothing is going to narrow their mind. The essence of teaching is to make learning contagious, to have one idea spark another.

My hope is that I'm getting better and wiser. With every book, I have more of myself to pour onto the page.

I Should Just Stop Tweeting, The Human Consciousness Must Raise Before I Speak My Juvenile Philosophy.

When you reflect, you are able to put an experience into perspective... reflective thinking enables you to distance yourself from the intense emotions of particularly good or bad experiences and see them with fresh eyes.

Please, not again what you studied, how long you spent at it, how many books you wrote, what people thought of you - but: what did you learn?

We can judge our progress by the courage of our questions and the depth of our answers, our willingness to embrace what is true rather than what feels good.