The Seven Laws of Teaching Quotes

“Truth in its entirety is but the ideal transcript of the universe. It is the mirrored reflection of all fact and being—the thought and will of the Creator as written and revealed by all that exists, material and spiritual, with all their laws, relations, changes, evolutions, and history. More—the”
― John Milton Gregory, The Seven Laws of Teaching

“Knowledge cannot be passed, like some material substance, from one person to another. Thoughts are not things which may be held and handled. They are the unseen and silent acts of the invisible mind. Ideas, the products of thought, can only be communicated by inducing in the receiving mind action correspondent to that by which these ideas were first conceived. In other words, ideas can only be transmitted by being rethought. It is obvious, therefore, that something more is required than a passive presentation of the pupil’s mind to the teacher’s mind as face turns to face. The pupil must think. His mind must work, not in a vague way, without object or direction, but under the control of the will, and with a fixed aim and purpose; in other words, with attention. It is not enough to look and listen. The learner’s mind must work through the senses. There must be mind in the eye, in the ear, in the hand. If the mental power is only half aroused and feeble in its action, the conceptions gained will be faint and fragmentary, and the knowledge acquired will be as inaccurate and useless as it will be fleeting. Teacher and text-book may be full of knowledge, but the learner will get from them only so much as his power of attention, vigorously exercised, enables him to shape in his own mind. Knowledge is inseparable from the act of knowing. If the power of knowing is small, the actual knowledge acquired will also be small.”
― John M Gregory, The Seven Laws of Teaching

“It should not be claimed that there is no art or science of training up to virtue. Remember how absurd it would be to believe that even the most trifling employment has its rules and methods, and at the same time, that the highest of all departments of human effort—virtue—can be mastered without instruction and practice!”—Cicero”
― John M Gregory, The Seven Laws of Teaching