Mark Van Doren

“It is astonishing how few stories have been told perfectly.”

“Bring ideas in and entertain them royally, for one of them may be the king.”

“An unexamined idea, to paraphrase Socrates, is not worth having and a society whose ideas are never explored for possible error may eventually find its foundations insecure.”

“I have always had the greatest respect for students. There is nothing I hate more than condescension—the attitude that they are inferior to you. I always assume they have good minds.”