Abraham Flexner

“No one has ever heard of a university founded by a final examination.”

“The 'useful' is not a criterion of scientific validity.”

“At no period of history has mankind been bulging with experts. There are, in fact, none, and we are all beginners, at different stages of ignorance.”

“The student is to collect and evaluate facts. The high school reveals principles; the college justifies them.”

“The real enemy of the human race is not the ignorant and the stupid, but the intelligent and the learned who have deliberately put their intelligence and their learning at the service of prejudice and hate.”

“A school should be an institution with a personality.”

“A university should be a place of light, of liberty, and of learning.”

“Curiosity, which may or may not eventuate in something useful, is probably the most outstanding characteristic of modern thinking.”

“Nations have recently been led to borrow billions for war; no nation has ever borrowed largely for education.”

“We must not overlook the role that extremists play. They are the gadflies that keep society from being too complacent.”

“Probably, no nation is rich enough to pay for both war and civilization. We must make our choice; we cannot have both.”

“Institutions of learning should be devoted to the cultivation of curiosity.”