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“Develop your own compass, and trust it. Take risks, dare to fail, remember the first person through the wall always gets hurt.”
Source : Aaron Sorkin's Commencement Address at Syracuse University in Syracuse, New York, news.syr.edu. May 13, 2012. 
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“In universities and intellectual circles, academics can guarantee themselves popularity -- or, which is just as satisfying, unpopularity -- by being opinionated rather than by being learned.”
Source : The Guardian, September 30, 1989.
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“Of course there's a lot of knowledge in universities: the freshmen bring a little in; the seniors don't take much away, so knowledge sort of accumulates.”
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“True, a little learning is a dangerous thing, but it still beats total ignorance.”
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“Nations have recently been led to borrow billions for war; no nation has ever borrowed largely for education... no nation is rich enough to pay for both war and civilization. We must make our choice; we cannot have both.”
Source : Abraham Flexner (1994). “Universities: American, English, German”, p.302, Transaction Publishers
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“But it would be absolutely mistaken to regard a wealth of theoretical knowledge as characteristic proof for the qualities and abilities of a leader.”
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“If one is not oneself a sage or saint, the best thing one can do is to study the words of those who were.”
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“From sage on the stage to guide on the side.”
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“He that can live alone resembles the brute beast in nothing, the sage in much, and God in everything.”
Source : Baltasar Gracian (2006). “The Art of Worldly Wisdom”, p.55, Shambhala Publications
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“When an alluring woman comes in at the door," warningly traced the austere Kien-fi on the margin of his well-known essay, "discretion may be found up the chimney". It is incredible that beneath this ever-timely reminder an obscure disciple should have added the words: "The wiser the sage, the more profound the folly.”
Source : Ernest Bramah (1963). “The Celestial Omnibus”
