What does this quote mean?: "Only the educated are free" -- Epictetus, a Greek Stoic Phlosopher?
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I will answer this by pasting an article. I beleive its the best way:\n\nFOR a very long time, our society has been plagued by different kinds of maladies like discrimination, exploitation, oppression and poverty. Because of this, several solutions have been made and offered in order to eradicate or, at least, alleviate them, but only one has been proven and tested to be the most effective - education. \n\nSarvepalli Radhakrishnan, former president of India (elected in 1962), believed that education possessed the power to alleviate all maladies affecting our society. "Education," he opined, "is the process of giving the individual, knowledge and skills which he should apply in his life."\n\nIn his remarks to the National Assembly of Lesotho in Maseru, dated 28 August 2002, UN secretary general Kofi Annan had this to say: "One of the prerequisites to fighting poverty in the long term, as study after has shown, lies in education. We know that in the course of the past century, countries committed to universal primary education - for boys and girls - far more successful in escaping poverty. They have enabled their people to lead more fulfilled, productive lives. They have given their people the chance to make better use of democratic opportunities." \n\nIn school, as well as in our very homes, we have learned that, in life, there are three (3) basic necessities for survival, to wit: food, clothing, and shelter. To these three, we may add education as the fourth. \n\nObserving the same view, Georges J. Danton, French revolutionary leader (1759-94), said more than two (2) centuries ago: "After bread, education." \n\nFor his part, Oscar Arias, in his speech during the annual conference of the Global Alliance for Transnational Educate (Gate) held in San Josi, Costa Rica, dated 08 October 2001, emphasized: "Education is the most basic necessity after those that are vital to life itself - food, clothing and shelter. It is education that lifts people out of chronic poverty in which they are constantly struggling to fulfil basic needs like these." \n\nIndeed, there is a direct link that connects lack of educational opportunities and poverty, and this has been shown many times over. \n\nDuring the "War on Poverty" in the 1960s, Lyndon B. Johnson, the 36th US president (1963-1969), said poverty has many roots, but the tap root is ignorance. \n\nOn the other hand, while speaking on the occasion of the "World Literacy Day," dated 08 September 1999, James D. Wolfenson, World Bank president, said: "Literacy is pivotal to human progress. All agree that the single most important key to development and poverty alleviation is education. Adult education, literacy and lifelong learning must be combined with the fundamental recognition that education of women and girls is central to development." \n\nThis link holds true for the other forms of maladies affecting our society. This is so, because, aside from being the most effective solution to poverty, education also plays a very crucial role in strengthening the very foundation of the protective walls surrounding the halls of democracy and liberty. It protects and defends the weak from the abusive hands of some individuals or families who sits on the throne of power and wealth. \n\nQuoting former Indian President Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan once again, he said: "Education should be liberating and life giving." \n\nJohn Adams, the first vice president (1789-97) and the second (2nd) president (1797-1801) of the US said liberty could not be preserved without general knowledge among the people. \n\nEchoing the same sentiment, John F. Kennedy, the 35th US president (1961-63), said liberty without learning is always in peril, and learning without liberty is always in vain. \n\nIn this connection, the words of Walter Lippman, a political commentator, are also enlightening. He said no amount of charters, direct primaries,
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Homer...the poet, philosopher, auther...not the simpson. and the whole quote is \n\nControl your mind or it will control you. Put it in reins, cast it in chains
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"A man's charecter is his destiny" (I can't remember which old Greek philosopher said that, but it was one of 'em...and, yes, the same rules would apply for the ladies!)
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Meek means teachable. Of course we must be teachable, because none of us knows everything.
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"I must study politics and war that my sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy. My sons ought to study mathematics and philosophy, geography, natural history, naval architecture, navigation, commerce and agriculture in order to give their children a right to study painting, poetry, music, architecture, statuary, tapestry, and porcelain."\n--  John Adams
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Original quote was by Dr. William W. Purkey, an internationally recognized leader in the theory and practice of making schools and classrooms inviting places to learn, and the co-founder of the International Alliance for Invitational Education, an organization of more than 1200 individuals who believe that schools should be engaging places where students enjoy learning.\n\nIt was made popular in the song "Come From The Heart" written by Susannah Clark and Richard Leigh.
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Stoicism is a school of philosophy founded (308 BC) in Athens by Zeno of Citium. It teaches self-control and detachment from distracting emotions, sometimes interpreted as an indifference to pleasure or pain. Stoics believe that this allows one to be a clear thinker, level-headed and unbiased. In practice, Stoicism is intended to imbue an individual with virtue, wisdom, and integrity of character. Students are encouraged to be altruistic as well as psychologically independent from society, regarding it as an unruly and often unreasonable entity while encouraging active engagement in improving society.[citation needed]\n\nVirtue, reason, and natural law are prime directives. By mastering passions and emotions, stoics believe it is possible to overcome the discord of the outside world and find peace within oneself. Stoicism holds that passion distorts truth, and that the pursuit of truth is virtuous. Greek philosophers such as Cleanthes, Chrysippus, and later Roman thinkers such as Cicero, Seneca the Younger, Marcus Aurelius, Cato the Younger, Dio Chrysostom, and Epictetus are associated with Stoicism. In Cicero's case, it should be emphasised that while he shared many of the moral tenets of Stoicism, he was not a Stoic himself but an eclectic. Stoic philosophy is usually contrasted with Epicureanism.\nHistory\n \nZeno of CitiumStoicism first appeared in Athens in the Hellenistic period around 301 BC and was introduced by Zeno of Citium. He taught in the famous stoa poikile (the painted porch) from which his philosophy got its name. Central to his teachings was the law of morality being the same as nature. During its initial phase, it was generally seen as a back-to-nature movement critical of superstitions and taboos. The philosophical detachment also encompassed pain and misfortune, good or bad experiences, as well as life or death. Zeno often challenged prohibitions, traditions and customs. Another tenet was the emphasis placed on love for all other beings.\n\nHis ideas developed from those of the Cynics, whose founder, Antisthenes, had been a disciple of Socrates. Zeno's most important follower was Chrysippus, who was responsible for much of what we now call Stoicism. The Stoics provided a unified account of the world, consisting of formal logic, materialistic physics and naturalistic ethics. Of these, they emphasized ethics as the main focus of human knowledge, though their logical theories were to be of more interest for many later philosophers. Later Roman Stoics focused on promoting a life in harmony with the universe, over which one has no direct control. Modern philosophy, contrary to original stoicism, often associates stoicism with determinism, as opposed to the Judeo-christian doctrine of Free Will.\n\nStoic ethics and virtues\nThe ancient Stoics are often misunderstood because the terms they used meant different things in the past than they do today. The word stoic has come to mean unemotional or indifferent to pain, because Stoic ethics taught freedom from passion by following reason. But the Stoics did not seek to extinguish emotions, only to avoid emotional troubles by developing clear judgement and inner calm through diligent practice of logic, reflection, and concentration.\n\nBorrowing from the Cynics, the foundation of Stoic ethics is that good lies in the state of the soul itself; in wisdom and self-control. Stoic ethics stressed the rule: "Follow where reason leads." One must therefore strive to be free of the passions (hate, fear, pain, pleasure, distress, appetite, etc.), bearing in mind that the ancient meaning of passion was "anguish" or "suffering"[1]—somewhat different to the modern use of the word.\n\nThe idea was to be free of suffering (which the Stoics called passion) through apatheia (απαθεια) (Greek) or apathy, where apathy was understood in the ancient sense—being objective or having "clear judgement"—rather than simple indifference,
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In its simplest form it means what you don't know won't hurt you.\nIt's from Thomas Gray's 1742 poem, "Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College" and the full quote is:\nWhere ignorance is bliss, 'tis folly to be wise.
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To not let school get in the way of my education.  It's actually a quote from Mark Twain, but it was relayed to me by a favorite English professor.  It's important to me because it means, simply, to not let the rigors and requirements of school get in the way of learning, to not get in the way of following what I love.
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I am a free thinker, and I do not find Biblical quotes inspiring.  However I have a good friend who is a philosopher and his quotes are very inspirational.\n"I'm not getting paid much for staying alive but it's good experience."© Ashleigh Brilliant\n"I think I’ll just sit here and wait till life gets easier."© Ashleigh Brilliant
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Comes from the Latin "Aequanimitas"= "equanimity" (or according to merriam webster "evenness of mind under stress," with a secondary connotation of "balanced.")  Comes from the earlier Latin phrase "aequo animo" which means "even mind."\n\n\nThe "-ta" ending plus "te" ending adds the command "you be" to the root noun.  \n\nIn short, it's pronounced "e-qua-ni-mi-TA-te" and the whole means something like "Be even-minded."
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a·the·ist     \nOne who disbelieves or denies the existence of God or gods.\n\nDo you not understand, what this means.
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To learn without thinking is fruitless;\nTo think without learning is dangerous. -Confucius\n\n"A definite forgiveness would mean a definite recognition of our strength" -Gandhi \n\n"You should work as hard as you can to reduce suffering and foster justice -- accepting that all of your efforts may come to nothing in the end" -Dalai Lama\n\n"The wicked leader is he who the people despise. The good leader is he who the people revere. The great leader is he who the people say, We did it ourselves" -Lao-Tzu \n\nLive as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever. -Gandhi\n\nFear is not a disease of the body; fear kills the soul. -Gandhi
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taken out of context, the quote's meaning is hard to dtermine with certainty.  my take is that without knowledge, people cannot "stand up" for their rights or values.\n\nin relation to bush, i guess you could say that since he has cut education spending so much, he will create a population of "empty bags" who will be easy to manipulate
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This is a slight modification of a quote by Clemenceau (not Churchill, to whom it has been wrongly attributed).  It is a catchy phrase, of course, and that explains its popularity, but as for its substance, it isn't ungenerous to say that the quote is both heartless and brainless itself.  It is heartless in that it is offensive to both young people who oppose socialism and to old ones who redeem it.  It is brainless in that, in its simplicity, it contends that a significant contingent of renowned scientists (who are indeed disproportionately liberal and somewhat socialst) are brainless.  (To claim that Bertrand Russell and Albert Einstein were brainless is indeed brainless in itself.)
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I think if our plan is to "educate" them, we might consider that we have been in a state of near continuous war for centuries. How is imposing our values ethical or moral really valid.\nI also wonder how truly free we are. We do have freedom of thought, we just don't have the freedom to vocalize it. Maybe on paper. Maybe we are free relative to being in bondage, but by its pure definition are we really free?
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Let's deal with the sociopolitical aspects and the educational aspects separately.\n\n"Literate" means you are able to read.  It's possible to be literate in one language but not in another.  Literacy is a critical step to freedom:  you have access to a world full of information and no longer have to accept what others tell you.\n\n"Educated" is a value-loaded term.  That is, what subjects are considered important to know about is a culturally-determined thing.  An educated San tribesman needs to be able to recognise the tracks of two dozen creatures and assess the likelihood of finding water under a dry streambed by fingering a handful of the sand.  A person living in London and looking for work needs to know the things that most Londoners know, in addition to some skills that makes the person employable.  So the definition of "well educated" for an employer recruiting research assistants for the Political Science department of an American university is different from the definition that might be accepted by an employer recruiting a job foreman for a construction site in Nigeria.\n\nWhich brings us to the sociopolitical aspect of your question.  "Well educated" is situation-specific, as I've just described.  However, for employers to have an idea of what an applicant can be expected to know and do, there have to be some generally accepted standards of accomplishment.  That's what credentials are for, and they serve an important purpose in society.  THAT DOESN'T MEAN THAT THEY DEFINE YOU.  Your credentials are useful for specific purposes, but the richness of your life experience and character isn't expressed by saying you have x educational credential.  Some folks end up a PhD and still don't know how to tie their own shoes or say a kind word to a stranger.