“Close reading of tough-minded writing is still the best, cheapest, and quickest method known for learning to think for yourself... Reading, and rigorous discussion of that reading in a way that obliges you to formulate a position and support it against objections, is an operational definition of education... reading, analysis, and discussion is the way we develop reliable judgment, the principle way we come to penetrate covert movements behind the facade of public appearances.” ThinkingWayWritingStillsReadingBehindsKnownPrinciplesSupportMovementPositionJudgmentToughMethodDefinitionsAppearanceDiscussionAnalysisPenetrateObjectionsFacadeCovertThink For YourselfClose Reading Author:John Taylor Gatto
“Investors, monarchies, and parliamentarians devised methods to control the processes of wealth accumulation and the power that came with it, but the ideology behind gold fever mobilized settlers to cross the Atlantic to an unknown fate. Subjugating entire societies and civilizations, enslaving whole countries, and slaughtering people village by village did not seem too high a price to pay, nor did it appear inhumane. The systems of colonization were modern and rational, but its ideological basis was madness.” PeopleCountryWholeSeemsProcessWealthPayBehindsFateModernCivilizationCrossesGoldBasesMadnessMethodRationalIdeologyVillageInvestorsAccumulationMonarchyFeverIdeologicalColonizationSettlersInhumane Author:Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz
“Do not confuse objectives with methods. When the nation becomes substantially united in favor of planning the broad objectives of civilization, then true leadership must unite thought behind definite methods.” WisdomPoliticsNationsUnitedBehindsEconomyCivilizationMethodFavorsPlanningObjectivesLiberalismBroadsDefiniteTrue LeaderTrue Leadership Book:Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: F.D. Roosevelt, 1937, Volume 6 Source: Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: F.D. Roosevelt, 1937, Volume 6
“The selective winnowing of time leaves only a few recognizable individuals behind for the historian to light on. Thus the historian who finds the human being more interesting than what the human being has done must inevitably endow the comparatively few individuals he can identify with too great an importance in relation to their time. Even so, I prefer this overestimate to the opposite method which treats developments as though they were the massive anonymous waves of an unhuman sea or pulverizes the fallible surviving records of human life into the grey dust of statistics.” HumansDoneLightIndividualHuman BeingsInterestingBehindsHistoryRecordsSeaDevelopmentOppositesTreatsImportanceRelationMethodWaveDustHuman LifeStatisticsMassiveHistorianGreySurvivingSelectiveOverestimate Author:C. V. Wedgwood
“There is a single theme behind all our work-we must reduce population levels. Either governments do it our way, through nice clean methods, or they will get the kinds of mess that we have in El Salvador, or in Iran or in Beirut. Population is a political problem. Once population is out of control, it requires authoritarian government, even fascism, to reduce it.” WayKindProblemGovernmentPoliticalLevelsBehindsNiceMethodCleanPopulationMessThemeIranFascismElitesReducingPopulation ControlBeirutEl SalvadorDepopulationAgenda 21Controlling GovernmentAuthoritarian GovernmentPopulation Problem Author:Thomas Ferguson
“I think it is a wise course for laborers to unite to defend their interests.... I think the employer who declines to deal with organized labor and to recognize it as a proper element in the settlement of wage controversies is behind the times.... Of course, when organized labor permits itself to sympathize with violent methods or undue duress, it is not entitled to our sympathy.” ThinkingCoursesInterestDealsBehindsWiseElementsLaborMethodViolentOrganizedPermitDeclineEntitledControversyEmployersSettlementLaborersOrganized LaborDuress Author:William Howard Taft
“Who of us would not be glad to lift the veil behind which the future lies hidden; to cast a glance at the next advances of our science and at the secrets of its development during future centuries? What particular goals will there be toward which the leading mathematical spirits of coming generations will strive? What new methods and new facts in the wide and rich field of mathematical thought will the new centuries disclose?” FactsSpiritLyingNextGoalSecretBehindsRichGenerationsCenturyFieldsParticularDevelopmentMethodStriveCastsWideGladMathematicalLiftsGlancesVeils Author:David Hilbert
“Managing the other fellow's business is a fascinating game. Trade unionists all over the country have pronounced ideas for the reform of Wall Street banks; and Wall Street bankers are not far behind in giving plans for the tremendous improvement of trade union policies. Wholesalers have schemes for improving the retailer; the retailer knows just what is wrong in the conduct of wholesale business-and we might go through a long list.... Yet for some reason the classes that ought to be helped keep on stubbornly clinging to their own method of running their affairs.” KnowsGivingLongIdeasCountryReasonMightRunningGamesBehindsClassPlansStreetsPolicyWallOughtManagementMethodFellowsTradeUnionsAffairListsImprovementReformFascinatingSchemesImprovingBankersClingingWholesaleTrade UnionsRetailers Author:B. C. Forbes
“There is a great need for a new approach, new methods and new tools in teaching, man's oldest and most reactionary craft. There is great need for a rapid increase in the productivity of learning. There is, above all, great need for methods that will make the teacher effective and multiply his or her efforts and competence. Teaching is, in fact, the only traditional craft in which we have not yet fashioned the tools that make an ordinary person capable of superior performance. In this respect, teaching is far behind medicine, where the tools first became available a century or more ago.” MenNeedsFirstsPersonsFactsEffortBehindsTeacherTeachingCenturyApproachCapableOrdinaryToolsPerformancesIncreaseMethodMedicineAvailableProductivitySuperiorsTraditionalCraftsRapidsCompetenceReactionariesOrdinary PersonNew ApproachSuperior Performance Author:Peter Drucker
“You don't go - oh this is a motion capture role, I'm going to employ this method of acting. We don't have anything to hide behind when we're doing this.” ActingBehindsRolesMethodCapture Author:Andy Serkis
“I'd like to talk to Bob Marley. I'd just like to ask him what was his method. Bob is one of the greatest songwriters ever. I don't know if people understand how powerful his songs are and the simplicity and genius behind them.” PeopleIfsKnowsSongAsksPowerfulBehindsGeniusMethodSimplicityBobSongwritersMarley Author:Bruno Mars
“Today, I'd like to talk to Bob Marley. I'd just like to ask him what was his method. Bob is one of the greatest songwriters ever. I don't know if people understand how powerful his songs are and the simplicity and genius behind them, from 'Redemption Song' to 'Is This Love?' and 'I Shot the Sheriff.'” PeopleIfsKnowsTodaySongAsksPowerfulBehindsGeniusShotsMethodSimplicityRedemptionBobSongwritersSheriffsMarley Author:Bruno Mars
“It occurs to me to wonder: do I believe in any god, or even positively not believe, as James does? I believe in systems and methods. I believe in the beauties of philosophy and poetry. I believe that the work we do and leave behind us is our afterlife; and I believe that history lies, but sometimes so well that I can't bring myself to resent it. I believe that truth is beauty, but not, I'm afraid, the reverse. It doesn't seem sufficient to sustain one in life's rigorous moments. Perhaps I shall embrace Islam. Its standards for poetry seem very high.” BelieveWellsDoeI CanSometimesPhilosophyMomentsSeemsLyingI BelieveBehindsWonderTruth IsStandardsMethodEmbraceIslamI Believe InSufficientAfterlifeReversePositivelyResentHistory Lies Author:Emma Bull
“For me, something will come in my head and I'll either end up calling my cell phone to record it, or I'll just pick my guitar up and see what comes out. Sometimes it sucks, sometimes it doesn't. So there's really no set method behind it.” EndsSometimesBehindsRecordsCallingPicksMethodGuitarPhonesCellsCell Phone Author:Chris Daughtry
“I think everybody's got different methods of working which suit the particular individual. Mine is to sort of play the part, and give 100%, to concentrate and focus on it while I'm actually working, but then leave it behind until the next day.” ThinkingGivingDifferentPlayNextIndividualBehindsFocusMinesParticularMethodSuitsNext Day Author:Sean Bean
“Capitalism historically has been a very dynamic force, and behind that force is technical progress, innovation, new ideas, new products, new technologies, and new methods of managing teams.” Has BeensIdeasForceBehindsTechnologyProgressTeamProductsCapitalismInnovationMethodNew IdeasNew TechnologyNew Products Author:Manmohan Singh
“Behind every footballing tough guy there lurks a mincing aesthete with a love of art for art's sake, football for football's sake. A win without art is somehow less than a victory; less, almost, than a beautiful defeat. In football, the romantic and the pragmatist are ever at war in the same breast. Beauty, it must be understood here, is not Barcelona's aim but their method. And last night they were ready to use this method at every opportunity - quick-fire passing of wit and purpose in the danger areas, seeking always to produce an unlooked-for player in a position of threat.” ArtWarUseLastsBeautifulPurposeNightGuyOpportunityWinningBehindsFirePlayerDangerPositionProduceFootballReadyVictoryUnderstoodArt IsToughAreasAimMethodThreatSakeDefeatSeekingWitPassingPassingsSoccerAnalysisBreastsLast NightBarcelonaTough GuyPragmatists Author:Simon Barnes
“If there's one thing I feel very strongly about, it's that there shouldn't be a distinction between pianists who play Ligeti and those who play Chopin. It might seem that they involve different skill sets, but I don't think that's true: whether playing Ives or Bach or Beethoven, you must bring the same imagination, the same sensitivity, and an ability to deal with same kinds of musical problems. The method behind my madness, anyway, is to keep plugging away at this idea.” IfsThinkingFeelsKindIdeasDifferentPlayProblemSeemsMightImaginationAbilityDealsBehindsOne ThingSkillsMadnessMethodMusicalDistinctionVery StrongSensitivityPianist Author:Jeremy Denk