"If you never ask yourself any questions about the meaning of a passage, you cannot expect the book to give you any insight you do not already possess."

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More quotes from: Mortimer J. Adler

• "All books will become light in proportion as you find light in them. "
• "All love is sexual love. The mythology of love shows that this is an ancient ..."
• "Another example of heroic love is the American hero. "
• "Aristotle uses a mother's love for her child as the prime example of love or ..."
• "Ask others about themselves, at the same time, be on guard not to talk too ..."
• "Benevolent desires and giving represent the altruistic or unselfish aspect. "
• "Conjugal love, or the friendship of spouses, can persist even after sexual desires have weakened, ..."
• "Desire is the root of relationships based on utility or pleasure-desire for money, fame, or ..."
• "Education equals the discovery of who we are and what we are to be about ..."
• "Eliminating physical contacts of all sorts, what sort of union do we mean when we ..."
• "Erotic or sexual love can truly be love if it is not selfishly sexual or ..."
• "Freedom is the emancipation from the arbitrary rule of other men. "
• "Freud's view is that all love is sexual in its origin or its basis. Even ..."
• "Friendship is a very taxing and arduous form of leisure activity. "
• "Habits are formed by the repetition of particular acts. They are strengthened by an increase ..."
• "I find the selectivity of erotic love - the choice of this man or this ..."
• "I wonder if most people ever ask themselves why love is connected with reproduction. And ..."
• "If one wants another only for some self-satisfaction, usually in the form of sensual pleasure, ..."
• "In Aristotelian terms, the good leader must have ethos, pathos and logos. The ethos is ..."
• "In English we must use adjectives to distinguish the different kinds of love for which ..."
• "In every instance of acquisitive desire we are impelled to seek something for ourselves-to get ..."
• "In the case of good books, the point is not to see how many of ..."

• "It is important to the child to be admired and respected, shown consideration and courtesy-and ..."
• "It is love rather than sexual lust or unbridled sexuality if, in addition to the ..."
• "Love can be unselfish, in the sense of being benevolent and generous, without being selfless. "
• "Love consists in giving without getting in return; in giving what is not owed, what ..."
• "Love without conversation is impossible. "
• "Loving someone may involve more than goodwill toward them-wishing to benefit them or give to ..."
• "Men value things in three ways: as useful, as pleasant or sources of pleasure, and ..."
• "Most of the great stories of love-in novels and plays-are stories of erotic love. "
• "My chief reason for choosing Christianity was because the mysteries were incomprehensible. What's the point ..."
• "Not to engage in the pursuit of ideas is to live like ants instead of ..."
• "Not to engage in the pursuit of ideas is to live like ants instead of ..."
• "One of the aims of sexual union is procreation - the creation by reproduction of ..."
• "One of the embarrassing problems for the early nineteenth-century champions of the Christian faith was ..."
• "Proper self-love is inseparable from the true love of another. In fact, it is its ..."
• "The Greeks and Romans had different names for the different kinds of love. The Greeks ..."
• "The love which moves the world, according to common Christian belief, is God's love and ..."
• "The most basic psychological distinction is in the sphere of our mental acts and in ..."
• "The need for love is one of the deepest needs in human nature, because we ..."
• "The philosopher ought never to try to avoid the duty of making up his mind. "
• "The purpose of learning is growth, and our minds, unlike our bodies, can continue growing ..."
• "The purpose of learning is growth, and our minds, unlike our bodies, can continue growing ..."

• "The telephone book is full of facts, but it doesn't contain a single idea. "
• "The ultimate end of education is happiness or a good human life, a life enriched ..."
• "Theories of love are found in the works of scientists, philosophers, and theologians. "
• "There are theories of taxation. So there are theories of love. "
• "There is no mutuality in ordinary desire: the hungry man wants to eat the food, ..."
• "There is only one situation I can think of in which men and women make ..."
• "Think how different human societies would be if they were based on love rather than ..."
• "To avoid being drawn into the meshes of love is not so hard a the ..."
• "Ultimately, we wish the joy of perfect union with the person we love. "
• "Unless we love and are loved, each of us is alone, each of us is ..."
• "Unlike many of my contemporaries, I never write books for my fellow professors to read. ..."
• "We acknowledge but one motive - to follow the truth as we know it, whithersoever ..."
• "We also say we love our freedom, which is something we certainly need but do ..."
• "We are selfish when we are exclusively or predominantly concerned with the good for ourselves. ..."
• "We love even when our love is not requited. "
• "When children, or adults as well, say that they love pleasant things to eat or ..."
• "When it becomes necessary to move into the imaginary world without sex, I'll give you ..."
• "When sex comes first, and especially if it remains primary, then the love that is ..."
• "When we ask for love, we don't ask others to be fair to us-but rather ..."
• "When young children say they love their parents, they do not mean that they have ..."
• "You have to allow a certain amount of time in which you are doing nothing ..."