Quotes by Mortimer Adler

Not to engage in the pursuit of ideas is to live like ants instead of like men.

— Mortimer Adler

Wisdom

Unless we love and are loved, each of us is alone, each of us is deeply lonely.

— Mortimer Adler

Love

Love can be unselfish, in the sense of being benevolent and generous, without being selfless.

— Mortimer Adler

Love

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.

— Mortimer Adler

Love

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.

— Mortimer Adler

Love

In the case of good books, the point is not to see how many of them you can get through, but how many can get through to you.

— Mortimer Adler

Wisdom

The purpose of learning is growth, and our minds, unlike our bodies, can continue growing as we continue to live.

— Mortimer Adler

Education

It is love rather than sexual lust or unbridled sexuality if, in addition to the need or want involved, there is also some impulse to give pleasure to the persons thus loved and not merely to use them for our own selfish pleasure.

— Mortimer Adler

Love

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.

— Mortimer Adler

Wisdom

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.

— Mortimer Adler

Love

Ask others about themselves, at the same time, be on guard not to talk too much about yourself.

— Mortimer Adler

Wisdom

The love which moves the world, according to common Christian belief, is God's love and the love of God.

— Mortimer Adler

Love

Work is toil: what one does only to earn a living. If it gives pleasure, it is leisure.

— Mortimer Adler

Success

Love without conversation is impossible.

— Mortimer Adler

Love

The telephone book is full of facts, but it doesn't contain a single idea.

— Mortimer Adler

Wisdom

Ultimately, we wish the joy of perfect union with the person we love.

— Mortimer Adler

Love

We love even when our love is not requited.

— Mortimer Adler

Love

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.

— Mortimer Adler

Wisdom

Aristotle uses a mother's love for her child as the prime example of love or friendship.

— Mortimer Adler

Love

Freedom is the emancipation from the arbitrary rule of other men.

— Mortimer Adler

Freedom

Friendship is a very taxing and arduous form of leisure activity.

— Mortimer Adler

Friendship

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

Happiness

Erotic or sexual love can truly be love if it is not selfishly sexual or lustful.

— Mortimer Adler

Love

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.

— Mortimer Adler

Love