'Tis education forms the common mind; just as the twig is bent the tree's inclined.

A person who has been punished is not less inclined to behave in a given way; at best, he learns how to avoid punishment.

Are there emotional underpinnings that incline us to indulge so greatly in relaxation, instead of taking on more productive uses of time?

Now and then, teaching may approach poetry, and now and then it?may approach profanity. May I tell you a little story about the great?Einstein? I listened once to Einstein as he talked to a group of?physicists in a party. "Why have all the electrons the same charge?" said he. "Well, why are all the little balls in the goat dung of the same size?"?Why did Einstein say such things? Just to make some snobs to raise?their eyebrows? He was not disinclined to do so, I think. Yet,?probably, it went deeper. I do not think that the overheard remark of?Einstein was quite casual. At any rate, I learnt something from it:?Abstractions are important; use all means to make them more tangible.?Nothing is too good or too bad, too poetical or too trivial to clarify your?abstractions. As Montaigne put it: The truth is such a great thing that?we should not disdain any means that could lead to it. Therefore, if the spirit moves you to be a little poetical, or a little profane, in your class,?do not have the wrong kind of inhibition." - George Polya's Mathematical Discovery, Volume 11, pp 102, 1962.

The truth is usually left for us to hunt and gather independently, if we are so inclined.

God never wrought miracle to convince atheism, because his ordinary works convince it. It is true, that a little philosophy inclineth man's mind to atheism; but depth in philosophy bringeth men's minds about to religion.

"....I am inclined to think that these muscles and bones of mine would have gone off long ago to Megara or Boeotia-by the dog they would, if they had been moved only by their own idea of what was best.

Upon this first, and in one sense this sole, rule of reason, that in order to learn you must desire to learn, and in so desiring not be satisfied with what you already incline to think, there follows one corollary which itself deserves to be inscribed upon every wall of the city of philosophy: Do not block the way of inquiry.

An ignorant person is inclined to blame others for his own misfortune. To blame oneself is proof of progress. But the wise man never has to blame another or himself.

Substitute 'damn' every time you're inclined to write 'very;' your editor will delete it and the writing will be just as it should be.

We shouldn't teach great books; we should teach a love of reading. Knowing the contents of a few works of literature is a trivial achievement. Being inclined to go on reading is a great achievement.

Substitute 'damn' every time you're inclined to write 'very' your editor will delete it and the writing will be just as it should be.

One of the sad things about contemporary journalism is that it actually matters very little. The world now is almost inured to the power of journalism. The best journalism would manage to outrage people. And people are less and less inclined to outrage.

Women who are inclined to write poetry at all are inspired by being mad at something.

England has always been disinclined to accept human nature.

Maybe I'm genetically more inclined to music - but the music I make is so far removed from Indian classical music. I grew up in Texas!

If our soldiers are not overburdened with money it is not because they have a distaste for riches if their lives are not unduly long it is not because they are disinclined to longevity.

A little philosophy inclineth man's mind to atheism but depth in philosophy bringeth men's minds about to religion.

Men are so simple and so much inclined to obey immediate needs that a deceiver will never lack victims for his deceptions.

There is no doubt that as a society we have become blase about the importance of marriage as a stabilising influence and less inclined to prize it as a worthwhile institution.

Love to faults is always blind always is to joy inclined. Lawless winged and unconfined and breaks all chains from every mind.

The great thing about university is that they incline you to get up and do it from the Classics to modern plays to the humor that Monty Pythons made popular.

I am inclined to attach some importance to the new system of manufacturing and venture to throw it out with the hope of its receiving a full discussion among those who are most interestedin the subject.

As a governor I am naturally inclined to focus on the domestic side of protecting the United States.