Quotes about Learning

Here's the next section of quotes from my book 1000 Great Quotations for Business, Management & Training.


An updated version of the book is newly available as part of my Almost Free Kindle titles both in the UK and in the USA.

I am always doing that which I cannot do, in order that I may learn how to do it.

Pablo Picasso, Spanish painter (1881-1973)

The difference between what the most and the least learned people know is inexpressibly trivial in relation to that which is unknown.

Albert Einstein, German physicist (1879-1955)

At the core of active learning is a deceptively simple requirement; students must be personally invested in the learning process.

David Garvin, US academic, business author

Sit down before a fact as a little child, be prepared to give up every preconceived notion, follow humbly wherever and whatever abyss nature leads or you shall learn nothing.

Thomas Henry Huxley, British biologist, philosopher (1825-1895)

Learn to Unlearn.

R D Laing, British psychiatrist (1927-1989)

Prepare yourself in the subject so well that it shall be always on tap: then in the classroom trust your spontaneity and fling away all further care.

William James, US philosopher, psychologist (1842-1910)

The ability to learn faster than the competition is often the only sustainable competitive advantage a company can have.

Arie de Geus, Dutch oil executive, management presenter (b. 1930)

Over the long run, superior performance depends on superior learning.

Peter Senge, US management author, presenter (b. 1947)

The illiterate of the future will not be the person who cannot read. It will be the person who does not know how to learn.

Alvin Toffler, US management author, editor (b. 1928)

In a time of drastic change it is the learners who inherit the future. The learned usually find themselves equipped to live in a world that no longer exists.

Eric Hoffer, US philosopher, author, longshoreman (1902-1983)

I do like challenges. What I like most of all is to learn. When I feel that I’ve learnt what there is to learn about telecommunications, or airlines, or cosmetics – well, you name it – then I move on to something else.

Richard Branson, British entrepreneur (b. 1950)

The universe is full of magical things patiently waiting for our wits to grow sharper.

Mary Adelaide Eden Philpotts, British author (1896-1996)

I’m always ready to learn, but I do not always like being taught.

Winston Churchill, British Prime Minister(1874-1965)

Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, are also remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so.

Douglas Adams, British author (1952-2001)

What did you ask at school today?

Richard Feynman, US physicist, Noble Prize winner, bongo player (1918-1988)

When you read a book, you hold another’s mind in your hands.

James Burke, British TV presenter, producer (b. 1936)

In the book of life, the answers aren’t in the back.

Charlie Brown, cartoon strip by Charles Schulz (1922-2000)