Wen Tsungyao

“ Of all the elements in success none is more vital than education, the cultivation of intellectual power. It is not genius but education that makes the difference between the master and the slave. Genius is but the half of a man; education is the driving wheel, the master-key of all difficulties in every profession. An uneducated man, no matter what his natural gift, is invariably pushed aside in the race of life by the man of education. ”

“ It is really a fact that to wealth man sometimes owe their independence. but the independence derived from mere wealth can never last long. Under the appearance of aiding it weakens its possessors and keeps them in perpetual slavery and degradation. The rich man, if uneducated, may be a rich libertine: the richer he is, the more means he has to glorify his vicious appetite. When his wealth is exhausted he will try to unscrupulous ways to regain it, and consequently brings himself to crime and to ruin. The independence derived from education is of a quite different nature. ”

“ In many respects the importance of education is decernable. Throughout the world whatever advance has been made in freedom, in the arts of life, has been in proportion to the grade of education. The lowliest and most fertile provinces of Asia have, on account of the ignorance of the people, sunk in poverty and in political servitude, while the countries in Europe, where compulsory education prevails, though once proverbial for sterility and barbarism, have been turned by skill and industry into gardens and can boast of a long list of heroes and statesmen, philosophers and poets. ”