Quotes by Richard Saul Wurman

“Three lies we learned in school:1. answering questions as opposed to asking them 2. endless memorization as a learning method; and 3. worshipping at the foot of success rather than understanding failure.”

“Our educational system doesnt have exclusive rights on the guilt and anxiety associated with learning. Learning inherently involves some trauma; it requires a certain amount of exertion and implies giving up one way of thinking for another.”

“I cant even believe that just happened.”

The most essential prerequisite to understanding is to be able to admit when you dont understand something

The most common definition of [the word information] is: the action of informing; formation or molding of the mind or character, training, instruction, teaching; communication of instructive knowledge.This definition remained fairly constant until the years immediately following World War II, when it came in vogue to use information as a technological term to define anything that was sent over an electric or mechanical channel. Information became part of the vocabulary of the science of messages. And, suddenly, the appellation could be applied to something that didnt necessarily have to inform. This definition was extrapolated to general usage as something told or communicated, whether or not it made sense to the receiver. Now, the freedom engendered by such an amorphous definition has, as you might expect, encouraged its liberal deployment. It has become the single most important word of our decade, the suspense of our lives and our work.

The most common definition [of the word information] is: the action of informing; formation or molding of the mind or character, training, instruction, teaching; communication of instructive knowledge.This definition remained fairly constant until the years immediately following World War II, when it came in vogue to use information as a technological term to define anything that was sent over an electric or mechanical channel. Information became part of the vocabulary of the science of messages. And, suddenly, the appellation could be applied to something that didnt necessarily have to inform. This definition was extrapolated to general usage as something told or communicated, whether or not it made sense to the receiver. Now, the freedom engendered by such an amorphous definition has, as you might expect, encouraged its liberal deployment. It has become the single most important word of our decade, the suspense of our lives and our work.

I believe I’m very normal. I’m hyper-normal. I’m more normal than anyone else I know. I think my thoughts, my indulgences, my desires, my pleasures may at first appear different, but that is only because they are more normal, not because they are more esoteric.I believe I am bored when other people are bored, only faster. I am interested when others are interested, only more interested. But I also think I’m less, rather than more, intelligent than other people.By indulging my interests through my life, and perhaps because of rather than despite many failures, I have been able to design my life.