Quotes by Benjamin Jowett

“One man is as good as another until he has written a book.”

“We cannot seek or attain health, wealth, learning, justice or kindness in general. Action is always specific, concrete, individualized, unique.”

“Never retreat. Never explain. Get it done and let them howl.”

“Logic is neither a science nor an art but a dodge.”

“The way to get things done is not to mind who gets the credit for doing them.”

“Logic is neither a science nor an art but a dodge.”

“Research! Research! A mere excuse for idleness; it has never achieved, and will never achieve any results of the slightest value.”

“We have sought truth, and sometimes perhaps found it. But have we had any fun?”

“Learn just enough of the subject [metaphysics] to enable your mind to get rid of it.”

“Doubt comes in at the window, when Inquiry is denied at the door.”

“[The office of the interpreter] is to read Scripture like any other book.”

“Nowhere probably is there more true feeling, and nowhere worse taste, than in a churchyard (p. 244).”

“I hope our young men will not grow into such dodgers as these old men are. I believe everything that a young man says to me (p. 250).”

“Logic is neither a science nor an art, but a dodge.”

“In philosophy he was content to be critical; he saw that one philosophy had always been succeeded by another, and the leader of to-day was forgotten tomorrow; each therefore, he concluded, had gras...”

“Jowett, in his day, did probably more than any other single man to let some fresh air into the exhausted atmosphere of the [Oxford] common rooms, and to widen the intellectual horizons of the place.”

“First come I. My name is J–W–TT.There's no knowledge but I know it.I am the Master of this College,What I don't know isn't knowledge.”

“I have been very fortunate in this latter respect (Greek and Latin Composition), having got for my tutor the very best man in the University—Jowett, to whom it is pleasant in every way to be attach...”

“He was a keen and formidable controversialist, and was usually found on what was, for the time, the unpopular side. His contribution (an essay on The Interpretation of Scripture) to the famous Essa...”

“Jowler [Jowett] preached yesterday in Chapel amidst intense excitement, no people in Chapel. He looked so fatherly and beautiful and brought out the best bell-like silvern voice with quite rich ton...”