Wikiversity

Main page learning project/QOTD

Note: "QOTD" means "quote of the day".

This learning project allows Wikiversity participants to explore the content used in Template:QOTD which inserts a quote in the Wikiversity:Main Page. The quote appears prominently in the top right corner, next to the welcome message. A (discuss) link accompanies the quote. Here is today's quote:

"The bulk of the world’s knowledge is an imaginary construction." -Helen Keller

Projects and activities.

  • State the exact source of the quotes.
  • Discuss the quotes.
  • Find more quotes.
  • Make Wikiversity pages for each person who is quoted.

Due to the placement on our main page these QOTD discussions that are linked from the Main Page are frequent targets for test edits, vandalism, and spam. Therefore, the mainspace resource pages redirect to the talk page to prevent editing by unregistered users in a searchable mainspace page. The talk pages are open to anyone editing. For many this might be their first time editing on a wiki. This project is to encourage discussion of the quote but it is also a kind of sandbox for introducing newcomers to collaborative editing.

See also q:Knowledge, q:Education and q:Learning.

Older discussions from this page can be found in the archive.

Currently used quotes

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Albert Einstein

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"Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited, whereas imagination embraces the entire world, stimulating progress, giving birth to evolution." — Albert Einstein (discuss)

Source: As quoted in "What Life Means to Einstein : An Interview by George Sylvester Viereck" in The Saturday Evening Post (26 October 1929) q:Albert_Einstein
Discuss: Main discussion is now at Talk:Albert Einstein quote
See also archived discussion. --mikeu talk 18:55, 20 January 2016 (UTC)

Bhartrihari

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"Knowledge grows when shared." — Bhartrihari (discuss)

Source: (unsourced) q:Knowledge
Discuss: Main discussion is now at Talk:Bhartrihari quote
Strong support for this quote--Gbaor 14:30, 16 January 2008 (UTC)
Yes, definitely yes. --Luai lashire 03:02, 20 January 2008 (UTC)
Same as Luai lashire.--Juan 13:02, 22 January 2008 (UTC)
Support. --mikeu talk 13:07, 22 January 2008 (UTC)
Very nice. Cormaggio talk 10:58, 26 January 2008 (UTC)

John Dewey

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"Education [..] is a process of living and not a preparation for future living." — John Dewey (discuss)

Source: My Pedagogic Creed
Discuss: Main discussion is now at Talk:John Dewey quote
I like this one a lot. --Luai lashire 03:02, 20 January 2008 (UTC)
This is nice. --Juan 13:02, 22 January 2008 (UTC)
Support. --mikeu talk 14:36, 22 January 2008 (UTC)
Yes, though can we remove the "therefore"? (It doesn't make sense in a soundbyte.) I'll look for more nuggets from Dewey... Cormaggio talk 10:58, 26 January 2008 (UTC)
Is it still a quote if we remove words ;) Wikiquote does not give a specific source for this quote, so I'm not even sure if it is correct. See also "Education is a social process; education is growth; education is not a preparation for life but is life itself." [1] but this does not look like a reliable source. --mikeu talk 03:00, 28 January 2008 (UTC)
:-) A quote can be shortened, or made to fit a context better, by replacing words with a "[...]" to indicate that words have been removed. (It is presumed the words removed are peripheral, and not completely altering the meaning of the sentence!) The original wording is correct - it's from "My Pedagogic Creed". Cormaggio talk 12:25, 28 January 2008 (UTC)
I've removed the "therefore" in {{QOTD}} - also added a comment to John Dewey quote. Cormaggio talk 18:48, 28 January 2008 (UTC)

Victor Hugo

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"On résiste à l'invasion des armées; on ne résiste pas à l'invasion des idées." — Victor Hugo (discuss)

Source: History of a Crime, 1877; q:Victor_Hugo
Discuss: Main discussion is now at Talk:Victor Hugo quote
See also below. --mikeu talk 01:46, 28 January 2008 (UTC)
I agree that the English translation is dreadful and the French better. But the original French expresses exactly the idea that is present in the concept of cultural imperialism. So I'm not sure that this is really the message that we should be giving. There are many educational quotes that are better than this. Sorry for posting this outside the main discussion page, but I'm vaguely against this one, even in the French. McCormack 07:19, 2 February 2008 (UTC)

Plutarch

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"The mind is not a vessel to be filled, but a fire to be kindled." — Plutarch (discuss)

Source: "The correct analogy for the mind is not a vessel that needs filling, but wood that needs igniting — no more — and then it motivates one towards originality and instills the desire for truth. Suppose someone were to go and ask his neighbors for fire and find a substantial blaze there, and just stay there continually warming himself: that is no different from someone who goes to someone else to get to some of his rationality, and fails to realize that he ought to ignite his own flame, his own intellect, but is happy to sit entranced by the lecture, and the words trigger only associative thinking and bring, as it were, only a flush to his cheeks and a glow to his limbs; but he has not dispelled or dispersed, in the warm light of philosophy, the internal dank gloom of his mind." On Listening to Lectures; q:Education
Discuss: Main discussion is now at Talk:Plutarch quote
Need to see it in the context.--Juan 13:02, 22 January 2008 (UTC)
Now, when I see part of its context I support it too. --Juan 15:26, 1 February 2008 (UTC)
Support. --mikeu talk 14:36, 22 January 2008 (UTC)
I like. :-) Cormaggio talk 11:08, 26 January 2008 (UTC)

Benjamin Cardozo

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"Freedom of expression is the matrix, the indispensable condition, of nearly every other form of freedom." — Benjamin N. Cardozo

Source: Palko v. Connecticut, 302 U.S. 319, 327, (1937); see.
Discuss: Main discussion is now at Talk:Benjamin N. Cardozo quote
Dont know, what this have with v.--Juan 12:51, 22 January 2008 (UTC)
Nice, but I'm kinda neutral (in light of other quotes here). Cormaggio talk 10:58, 26 January 2008 (UTC)
I'm not so keen on this one. Seeing the backstory it is about a death penalty court case. It has a lot do with freedom of expression, but little to do with education or learning. --mikeu talk 04:18, 8 January 2016 (UTC)

Zen proverb

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"When the pupil is ready to learn, a teacher will appear." — Zen proverb (discuss)

Source: (unsourced) c.f. q:Zen proverbs
Discuss: Main discussion is now at Talk:Zen proverb
I like also this one. --Gbaor 14:30, 16 January 2008 (UTC)
This sounds more theological, so dont sure if it is good for us.--Juan 13:02, 22 January 2008 (UTC)
Support. --mikeu talk 14:36, 22 January 2008 (UTC)
Interesting - I hope it would (will?) work like this. :-) Cormaggio talk 11:08, 26 January 2008 (UTC)
But what or who is the teacher in this system?--Juan 15:34, 1 February 2008 (UTC)
A teacher is anyone who has knowledge, and is willing to show others. A student is anyone who has a desire to learn. --mikeu talk 22:06, 27 September 2008 (UTC)
Caprice, the Fantastic Flying Scape-Goat for Azazel 12:06, 28 September 2008 (UTC)

New quote suggestions

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Richard Feynman

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"We absolutely must leave room for doubt or there is no progress and no learning. There is no learning without having to pose a question. And a question requires doubt. People search for certainty. But there is no certainty. People are terrified — how can you live and not know? It is not odd at all. You only think you know, as a matter of fact. And most of your actions are based on incomplete knowledge and you really don't know what it is all about, or what the purpose of the world is, or know a great deal of other things. It is possible to live and not know." — Richard Feynman

Source: "What is and What Should be the Role of Scientific Culture in Modern Society", given at the Galileo Symposium in Italy (1964) q:Richard Feynman
Discuss:

Stewart Brand

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"On the one hand information wants to be expensive, because it's so valuable. The right information in the right place just changes your life. On the other hand, information wants to be free, because the cost of getting it out is getting lower and lower all the time. So you have these two fighting against each other." — Stewart Brand

Source: w:Information wants to be free
Discuss:
I would suggest using just the "information wants to be free..." part on the main page with the full quote at the discussion page. --mikeu talk 18:45, 20 January 2016 (UTC)

Horace Mann

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"Forts, arsenals, garrisons, armies, navies, are means of security and defence, which were invented in half-civilized times and in feudal or despotic countries; but schoolhouses are the republican line of fortifications, and if they are dismantled and dilapidated, ignorance and vice will pour in their legions through every breach" — w:Horace Mann

Source: Fourth Annual Report of the Secretary of the Board of Education, The Common School Journal (Boston. January 13, 1841)
Discuss:
This is one of my favorite quotes, but I'm having difficulty shortening it to a length appropriate for the main page. Perhaps "[if schoolhouses] are dismantled and dilapidated, ignorance and vice will pour in their legions through every breach" though that is still a bit too long. --mikeu talk 18:51, 20 January 2016 (UTC)

Formerly used quotes

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(older discussions from this section can be found in the archive.)

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