“Curiosity, which may or may not eventuate in something useful, is probably the most outstanding characteristic of modern thinking ... Institutions of learning should be devoted to the cultivation of curiosity, and the less they are deflected by the consideration of immediacy of application, the more likely they are to contribute not only to human welfare, but to the equally important satisfaction of intellectual interest, which may indeed be said to have become the ruling passion of intellectual life in modern times.” ThinkingShouldHumansMaySaidImportantPassionInterestModernIntellectualInstitutionsCuriositySatisfactionWelfareCharacteristicsConsiderationApplicationDevotedRulingOutstandingCultivationModern TimesImmediacyIntellectual LifeRuling Passion Author:Abraham Flexner
“In politics continental Europe was infantile - horrifying. What America lacked, for all its political stability, was the capacity to enjoy intellectual pleasures as though they were sensual pleasures. This is what Europe offered, or was said to offer.” SaidAmericaPoliticalEnjoyPleasureOffersIntellectualEuropeCapacitySensualStabilityInfantileContinentalSensual Pleasure Book:It All Adds Up: From the Dim Past to the Uncertain Future Source: It All Adds Up: From the Dim Past to the Uncertain Future
“The intellectual ... may live for ideas, as I have said, but something must prevent him from living for one idea, from becoming obsessive or grotesque. Although there have been zealots whom we may still regard as intellectuals, zealotry is a defect of the breed and not of the essence.” MayHas BeensSaidStillsIdeasBecomingIntellectualEssenceRegardDefectsObsessiveGrotesqueZealotZealotry Book:Anti-Intellectualism in American Life Source: Anti-Intellectualism in American Life