"But before any great things are accomplished, a memorable change must be made in the system of Education and knowledge must become so general as to raise the lower ranks of Society nearer to the higher. The Education of a Nation, instead of being confined to a few schools & Universities, for the instruction of the few, must become the National Care and expence, for the information of the Many."
- John Adams, in a letter to Matthew Robinson Jr., March 23, 1786

"We believe, that is, you and I, that education is not an expense. We believe it is an investment."
- Lyndon B. Johnson, October 16, 1968

"Each year more than 100,000 high school graduates, with proved ability, do not enter college because they cannot afford it. And if we cannot educate today's youth, what will we do in 1970 when elementary enrollment will be 5 million greater than 1960? And high school enrollment will rise by 5 million. College enrollment will increase by more than 3 million."
- Lyndon B. Johnson, May 22, 1964

"Education is the best provision for old age."
- Aristotle

"To give away money is an easy matter ... and in any man's power. But to decide to whom to give it, and how large and when, for what purpose and how, is neither in every man's power nor an easy matter. Hence it is that such excellence is rare, praiseworthy and noble."
- Aristotle

"Education costs money, but then so does ignorance."
- Sir Claus Moser

"If you think education is expensive, try ignorance."
- Seen on a bumper sticker

"If you think education is expensive, try old age."
- Unknown

"If a man empties his purse into his head, no one can take it from him. An investment in knowledge always pays the highest return."
- Ben Franklin

"Education is not expensive, it's priceless."
- Seen on an envelope from Judson College, Illinois.

"As precious as knowledge itself is the learning. As precious as any reward is the earning."
- John Gray

"A man who has never gone to school may steal from a freight car, but if he has a university education he may steal the whole railroad."
- Teddy Roosevelt, 1907

"The function of the university is not simply to teach bread-winning, or to furnish teachers for the public schools or to be a centre of polite society; it is, above all, to be the organ of that fine adjustment between real life and the growing knowledge of life, an adjustment which forms the secret of civilization."
- W.E.B. DuBois, "The Souls of Black Folk," 1903

"Education is our passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to the people who prepare for it today."
- Malcolm X

"It's not burn baby burn, but learn, baby, learn, so that you can earn, baby, earn."
- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., 1967 (a similar quote appears in the lyrics of "Don't Burn Baby" by Sly and the Family Stone, also dating to 1967)

Get learning with a great sum of money, and get much gold by her.
- Ecclesiasticus 51:28

I want every individual who has the potential and qualifications to succeed in higher education to be given the opportunity to participate, whatever their family background.

No one should be held back from realising their potential by fears that they will not be able to afford to go to university or that they will graduate with unmanageable levels of debt.
- Gordon Brown, Britain's Prime Minister, July 5, 2007

Education - lifelong education for everyone - from toddlers to workers well advanced in their careers - is indeed an excellent investment for individuals and society as a whole.
- Ben Bernanke, Federal Reserve Chairman, September 24, 2007

... because in the United States of America, no one should go broke because they chose to go to college.
- President Barack Obama, State of the Union Address, January 27, 2010

Quotes About Education

A little learning is a dangerous thing;
Drink deep, or taste not the Pieran spring:
There shallow draughts intoxicate the brain,
And drinking largely sobers us again.
- Alexander Pope, 1688-1744

For as the old saying is,
When house and land are gone and spent
Then learning is most excellent.
- Samuel Foote, "Taste," 1752

Education is what survives when what has been learnt has been forgotten.
- B.F. Skinner, 1964

There is no such whetstone, to sharpen a good wit and encourage a will to learning, as is praise.
- Roger Ascham, 1515-1568

Schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged.
- Northwest Ordinance, Continental Congress, 1787

"Human history becomes more and more a race between education and catastrophe."
- H.G. Wells, The Outline of History, Volume 2, Chapter 41, page 594, 1920.

"Every child must be encouraged to get as much education as he has the ability to take. We want this not only for his sake -- but for the future of our nation's sake. Nothing matters more to the future of our country: not our military preparedness -- for armed might is worthless if we lack the brainpower to build world peace; not our productive economy -- for we cannot sustain growth without trained manpower; not our democratic system of government -- for freedom is fragile if citizens are ignorant."
- President Lyndon Johnson, while declaring a national goal of full educational opportunity

"We are now embarked on another venture to put the American dream to work in meeting the new demands of a new day. Once again we must start where men would improve their society have always known they must begin - with an educational system restudied, reinforced, and revitalized."
- President Lyndon B. Johnson, January 12, 1965

"Education is the key to opportunity in our society, and the equality of educational opportunity must be the birthright of every citizen."
- President Lyndon B. Johnson, June 1, 1965

"Most of all we need an education system which will create an educated mind. This is a mind not simply a repository of information and skills, but a mind that is a source of creative skepticism, characterized by a willingness to challenge old assumptions and to be challenged, a spaciousness of outlook, and convictions that are deeply held, but which new facts and new experiences can always modify. ... It means an educational system which does not simply equip the students to adjust to society, but which enables the student to challenge and to modify, and at times reject, if necessary, the received wisdom of his elders."
- President Lyndon B. Johnson, July 21, 1965

"[E]very man, everywhere, should be free to develop his talents to their full potential - unhampered by arbitrary barriers of race or birth or income."
- President Lyndon B. Johnson, February 5, 1968 ("Fifth Freedom" speech)

"Education makes a people easy to lead, but difficult to drive; easy to govern but impossible to enslave."
- Lord Brougham Speech, Jan. 1828, to the House of Commons

"The cultivated mind is the guardian genius of democracy. It is the only dictator that free man acknowledges. It is the only security that free man desires."
- Mirabeau B. Lamar, Second President of the Republic of Texas, 1838

"A popular government, without popular information, or the means of acquiring it, is but a prologue to a farce or a tragedy, or perhaps both. Knowledge will forever govern ignorance, and a people who mean to be their own governors must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives."
- James Madison

"Ipsa Scientia Potestas Est" (Knowledge Itself Is Power)
- Francis Bacon

"Nothing in life is to be feared. It is only to be understood."
- Marie Curie

"The effort to understand the universe is one of the very few things that lift human life above the level of farce and give it some of the grace of tragedy."
- Steven Weinberg

"A master can tell you what he expects of you. A teacher, though, awakens your own expectations."
- Patricia Neal

"To persons uninstructed in natural history, their country or seaside stroll is a walk through a gallery filled with wonderful works of art, nine-tenths of which have their faces turned to the wall."
- T. H. Huxley

"He who does not understand history is doomed to repeat it."
- Santayana

"Tomorrow's illiterate will not be the man who can't read, he will be the man who has not learned how to learn."
- Herbert Gerjuoy

"Men may be born free; they cannot be born wise; and it is the duty of the university to make the free wise."
- Adlai Stevenson, "What I Think"

"It is only the ignorant who despise education."
- Publius Syrus, 42 BC

"It is a truism that education is no longer a luxury. Education in this day and age is a necessity."
- President Lyndon B. Johnson, November 8, 1965

"Poverty has many roots, but the taproot is ignorance."
- President Lyndon B. Johnson

Let us not think of education only in terms of its costs, but rather in terms of the infinite potential of the human mind that can be realized through education. Let us think of education as the means of developing our greatest abilities, because in each of us there is a private hope and dream which, fulfilled, can be translated into benefit for everyone and greater strength for our nation.
- President John F. Kennedy, July 25, 1961

Our progress as a nation can be no swifter than our progress in education. Our requirements for world leadership, our hopes for economic growth, and the demands of citizenship itself in an era such as this all require the maximum development of every young American's capacity. The human mind is our fundamental resource.
- President John F. Kennedy, February 20, 1961

No task before our nation is more important than expanding and improving the educational opportunities of all our people. The concept that every American deserves the opportunity to attain the highest level of education of which he is capable is not new to this Administration - it is a traditional ideal of democracy. But it is time that we moved toward the fulfillment of this ideal with more vigor and less delay. For education is both the foundation and the unifying force of our democratic way of life — it is the mainspring of our economic and social progress — it is the highest expression of achievement in our society, ennobling and enriching human life. In short, it is at the same time the most profitable investment society can make and the richest reward it can offer.
- President John F. Kennedy, February 6, 1962

In our democracy every young person should have an equal opportunity to obtain a higher education, regardless of his station in life or financial means.
- President John F. Kennedy, February 6, 1962

Student loans have been helpful to many. But they offer neither incentive nor assistance to those students who, by reason of family or other obligations, are unable or unwilling to go deeper into debt. ... It is, moreover, only prudent economic and social policy for the public to share part of the costs of the long period of higher education for those whose development is essential to our national economic and social well-being. All of us share in the benefits - all should share in the costs.
- President John F. Kennedy, February 6, 1962

Education is a human right with immense power to transform. On its foundation rest the cornerstones of freedom, democracy and sustainable human development.
- Kofi A. Annan, 1999

In a global economy where the most valuable skill you can sell is your knowledge, a good education is no longer just a pathway to opportunity - it is a prerequisite.
- President Barack Obama, February 2009

Higher education cannot be a luxury reserved just for a privileged few. It is an economic necessity for every family. And every family should be able to afford it.
- President Barack Obama, June 21, 2012

Quotes About Money

"He is richest who is content with the least."
- Socrates

"Money is indeed the most important thing in the world."
- George Bernard Shaw

"When I was young, I thought that money was the most important thing in the world. Now that I'm old . . . I know it is."
- Oscar Wilde

"Whoever thinks that money can't buy happiness . . . just doesn't know where to shop!"
- Peanuts

"To give away money is an easy matter, and in any man's power. But to decide to whom to give it, and how large and when, and for what purpose and how, is neither in every man's power, nor an easy matter. Hence it is that such excellence is rare, praiseworthy, and noble."
- Aristotle

"Religion, morality, and knowledge, being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged."
- Article 3 of the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 (Congress)

Miscellaneous Quotes

"We will either find a way, or we will make one."
- Hannibal