John Gay Quotes

I remember very well, when I was at Oxford, an old gentleman said to me, "Young man, ply your book diligently now, and acquire a stock of knowledge; for when years come upon you, you will find that poring upon books will be but an irksome task.

A book is quite a beautiful thing, even more so learning. Together, however, all they amount to is called book-learning.

People disparage knowing and the intellectual life, and urge doing. I am content with knowing, if only I could know.

I love learning new things that will never be put to practical use.

Real knowledge, like everything else of value, is not to be obtained easily. It must be worked for, studied for, thought for, and, more that all, must be prayed for.

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

Some people drink from the fountain of knowledge, others just gargle.

I was not an especially diligent student but nevertheless obtained a reasonable education in physics.

Honey is sweet, "and so is knowledge, but knowledge is like the bee that made that sweet honey, you have to chase it through the pages of a book." (taken from "Thank you, Mr. Falker" )

I only want power so I can get books.

The boy heaved a sigh. "I would ask to go with you," he said, " but I have to finish my lessons. I so look forward to the day when I know everything. Then I won't have to read any more books or do any more counting." Beatrix smiled. "I don't wish to be discouraging, Rye, but it's not possible to know everything." "Mama does." Rye paused reflectively. "At least, Papa says we mus t pretend she does, because it makes her happy." "Your father," Beatrix informed him with a laugh, " is one of the wisest men I've ever known.

Seek wisdom. Wisdom waits to be gathered. She cannot be bartered or sold. She is a fight for the diligent. And only the diligent will find her. The lazy man - the stupid man - never even looks. Though wisdom is available to many, she is found by few. Seek wisdom. Find her, and you will find success and contentment.

We must study things we will never use, but which someone told us were important to know.

Scholarship is to be created not by compulsion, but by awakening a pure interest in knowledge.

I trimmed my lamp, consumed the midnight oil.

I was never ignorant, as far as being experienced in classrooms and learning about different subjects and actually soaking it up.

Seek ye diligently and teach one another words of wisdom; yea, seek ye out of the best books words of wisdom; seek learning, even by study and also by faith.

In my youth I studied for ostentation; later, a little to gain wisdom; now, for recreation; never for gain.

You must live feverishly in a library. Colleges are not going to do any good unless you are raised and live in a library everyday of your life.

Not long ago, an English writer telephoned me from London, asking questions. One was "What's your alma mater?" I told him, "Books." You will never catch me with a free fifteen minutes in which I'm not studying something I feel might be able to help the black man.

What's important? That which is dug out of books, or out of the guts?

The person who wins the Nobel Prize is not the person who read the most journal articles and took the most notes on them. It's the person who knew what to look for. And cultivating that capacity to seek what's significant, always willing to question whether you're on the right track - that's what education is going to be about, whether it's using computers and the Internet, or pencil and paper, or books.

If we encounter a man of rare intellect, we should ask him what books he reads.

After all manner of professors have done their best for us, the place we are to get knowledge is in books.

In the pursuit of knowledge, follow it wherever it is to be found; like fern, it is the produce of all climates, and like coin, its circulation is not restricted to any particular class.