“We learn better in a free spirit of curiosity than under fear and compulsion.”
About This Quote
Full quote reads: "This clearly shows that we learn better in a free spirit of curiosity than under fear and compulsion. But your law, O God, permits the free flow of curiosity to be stemmed by force. From the schoolmaster's cane to the ordeals of martyrdom, your law prescribes bitter medicine to retrieve us from the noxious pleasures which cause us to desert you."
More from Augustine of Hippo
“My heart grew sombre with grief, and wherever I looked I saw only death. My own country…”
“The evil in me was foul, but I loved it. I loved my own perdition and my own faults, not…”
“If babies are innocent, it is not for lack of will to do harm, but for lack of strength.”
“I did not know that evil is nothing but the removal of good until finally no good remains.”