I don’t think it would have all got me quite so down if just once in a while–just once in a while–there was at least some polite little perfunctory implication that knowledge should lead to wisdom, and that if it doesn't, it's just a disgusting waste of time! But there never is! You never even hear any hints dropped on a campus that wisdom is supposed to be the goal of knowledge. You hardly ever even hear the word 'wisdom' mentioned! . J.d. Salinger
About This Quote

Robert M. Pirsig, in his book, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, says that when humans learn from experience, they still think they are learning from knowledge. In fact, they are only learning from experience. When we make a mistake, we try to correct it by using more knowledge.

But when we do this, we make the same mistake again. Pirsig concluded that the best way to learn is not by taking more classes and reading more books, but rather by just doing something and seeing what happens. He says that we can learn about real life through doing things that people have done before us.

Experience is the best teacher.

Source: Franny And Zooey

Some Similar Quotes
  1. How can our words ever truly be our own? Since we started growing all we've been taught is to care how we represent our persona and how we should communicate appropriately and how we portrait ourselves as acceptable human beings. what we've been taught, thats... - A.Y.C.C

  2. The society to which we belong seems to be dying or is already dead. I don't mean to sound dramatic, but clearly the dark side is rising. Things could not have been more odd and frightening in the Middle Ages. But the tradition of artists... - Anne Lamott

  3. War is society's dirty work, usually done by kids cleaning up some failure on the part of the adults. - Karl Marlantes

  4. War is the echo that never dies. No society strives for war, they are always tricked into it. - R.A.Delmonico

  5. No young woman of good breeding should show exclusive partiality to one partner all night. - Jude Morgan

More Quotes By J.d. Salinger
  1. I don’t think they can deal with someone being complex and contradictory; it’s not acceptable, you have to be a cartoon, a stereotype.

  2. I refuse to step inside the ring and fight like a gladiator against my own. I'm not playing that game. Any woman who has survived a year or more of making music has my undying respect.

  3. A lot of people these days are not music lovers - they just want to be famous which is a very different thing to what I grew up believing in.

  4. Until we command the exact same salary as every male counterpart, I feel a political desire to stand by other women. If we don't stand together, that equality will never be fully realized, and that bothers me.

  5. It's really difficult to navigate attention and stardom and celebrity status and still try to maintain yourself and hold onto your intelligence and integrity. It's really challenging.

Related Topics