There are many different quotes on education by a number of different philosophers, scholars, poets, novelists, artists, and other famous people. Educational quotes have been made by the most renowned intellectuals throughout history. In this brief article, I will share some of these quotes on education with you.

Aristotle, one of the foremost philosophers of all time has a very famous quote on education that goes, “It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.” This education quote still applies today. The subtext of this and many other Aristotelean quotes on education is that the purpose of becoming educated is to learn to think critically. In other words, we do not get an education to learn facts and figures. We get an education so that we may think for ourselves and arrive at our own conclusions. Perhaps policy makers today could benefit from this education quote by Aristotle.

Oscar Wilde has a number of pithy quotes on education, my favorite amongst these being, “Education is an admirable thing, but it is well to remember from time to time that nothing that is worth knowing can be taught.” The message behind this educational quote is that the most important wisdom gained by human beings is gleaned via direct experience rather than the imparting of esoteric knowledge in school. There are many powerful people in our society who should be made aware of this quote, namely those MBAs who make millions of dollars per year yet manage to crash and burn their Fortune 500 companies despite having graduated from Harvard Business School.

Mark Twain was a master at coming up with biting and insightful quotes on education. One of his best quotes on education is, “In the first place, God made idiots. That was for practice. Then he made school boards.” Twain, as he is wont to do, is pointing out the irony that people in high bureaucratic places are often ill equipped for the jobs they have been given. This happens to be true especially in education.