Mortimer Adler quotes

The telephone book is full of facts, but it doesn't contain a single idea. (Mortimer Adler)
The purpose of learning is growth, and our minds, unlike our bodies, can continue growing as we continue to live. View quote
Mortimer Adler
You have to allow a certain amount of time in which you are doing nothing in order to have things occur to you, to let your mind think. View quote
Mortimer Adler
Friendship is a very taxing and arduous form of leisure activity. View quote
Mortimer Adler
In the case of good books, the point is not how many of them you can get through, but rather how many can get through to you. View quote
Mortimer Adler
Not to engage in the pursuit of ideas is to live like ants instead of like men. View quote
Mortimer Adler
Love consists in giving without getting in return; in giving what is not owed, what is not due the other. That's why true love is never based, as associations for utility or pleasure are, on a fair exchange. View quote
Mortimer Adler
Unless we love and are loved, each of us is alone, each of us is deeply lonely. View quote
Mortimer Adler
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. View quote
Mortimer Adler
Love without conversation is impossible. View quote
Mortimer Adler
The ultimate end of education is happiness or a good human life, a life enriched by the possession of every kind of good, by the enjoyment of every type of satisfaction. (Mortimer Adler)
Love can be unselfish, in the sense of being benevolent and generous, without being selfless. View quote
Mortimer Adler
If one wants another only for some self-satisfaction, usually in the form of sensual pleasure, that wrong desire takes the form of lust rather than love. View quote
Mortimer Adler
We acknowledge but one motive - to follow the truth as we know it, whithersoever it may lead us; but in our heart of hearts we are well assured that the truth which has made us free, will in the end make us glad also. View quote
Mortimer Adler
When we ask for love, we don't ask others to be fair to us-but rather to care for us, to be considerate of us. There is a world of difference here between demanding justice... and begging or pleading for love. View quote
Mortimer Adler
I find the selectivity of erotic love - the choice of this man or this woman - much more intelligible if liking the person is the origin of sexual interest, rather than the other way. View quote
Mortimer Adler
Love wishes to perpetuate itself. Love wishes for immortality. View quote
Mortimer Adler
One of the aims of sexual union is procreation - the creation by reproduction of an image of itself, of the union. View quote
Mortimer Adler
The philosopher ought never to try to avoid the duty of making up his mind. View quote
Mortimer Adler
Theories of love are found in the works of scientists, philosophers, and theologians. View quote
Mortimer Adler
I wonder if most people ever ask themselves why love is connected with reproduction. And if they do ask themselves about this, I wonder what answer they give. (Mortimer Adler)
We are selfish when we are exclusively or predominantly concerned with the good for ourselves. We are altruistic when we are exclusively or predominantly concerned with the good of others. View quote
Mortimer Adler
Men value things in three ways: as useful, as pleasant or sources of pleasure, and as excellent, or as intrinsically admirable or honorable. View quote
Mortimer Adler
Ask others about themselves, at the same time, be on guard not to talk too much about yourself. View quote
Mortimer Adler
Think how different human societies would be if they were based on love rather than justice. But no such societies have ever existed on earth. View quote
Mortimer Adler