Quote #0
It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education.
Albert Einstein
About This Quote
The popular one-line version appears to be a later condensation of a longer passage from Einstein’s autobiographical notes (published in 1949). In that passage, he argues that prevailing instructional methods can suppress students’ innate drive to ask questions, and that curiosity needs freedom (not just stimulation) to remain alive.
Interpretation
The remark criticizes overly controlling schooling: when education prioritizes rigid methods and compliance, it can choke off the exploratory mindset that real learning depends on. Curiosity is portrayed as fragile and sustained best by autonomy.
Extended Quotation
It is, in fact, nothing short of a miracle that the modern methods of instruction have not yet entirely strangled the holy curiosity of inquiry; for this delicate little plant, aside from stimulation, stands mainly in need of freedom; without this it goes to wreck and ruin without fail.
Variations
It is a wonder that any curiosity survives formal education.
It’s a miracle that curiosity survives formal education.
Misattributions
- Paul Arthur Schilpp
- Marilyn Ferguson
Source
The New York Times (March 13, 1949), “ASSAILS EDUCATION TODAY; Einstein Says ‘It Is Miracle’ Inquiry Is Not ‘Strangled’” (AP dispatch from Evanston, Ill.)
