Albert J. Nock Quotes

A collection of quotes by Albert J. Nock.

Albert Jay Nock (1870-1945) was a prominent American essayist, social critic, and philosopher. Born in Pennsylvania, Nock became known for his sharp wit and insightful writings on various social and political issues. He was a highly influential figure in the libertarian movement and advocated for limited government, individualism, and the preservation of cultural heritage. Nock is best known for his works, including "Memoirs of a Superfluous Man" and "Our Enemy, the State." With his critical perspective on society and government, Nock left a lasting impact on intellectual circles and continues to be revered for his thought-provoking writings.

The business of a scientific school is the dissemination of

The business of a scientific school is the dissemination of useful knowledge, and this is a noble enterprise and indispensable withal society can not exist unless it goes on.

Knowledge

Assuming that man has a distinct spiritual nature, a soul, w

Assuming that man has a distinct spiritual nature, a soul, why should it be thought unnatural that under appropriate conditions of maladjustment, his soul might die before his body does or that his soul might die without his knowing it?

Nature

Life has obliged him to remember so much useful knowledge th

Life has obliged him to remember so much useful knowledge that he has lost not only his history, but his whole original cargo of useless knowledge history, languages, literatures, the higher mathematics, or what you will - are all gone.

Knowledge

The positive testimony of history is that the State invariab

The positive testimony of history is that the State invariably had its origin in conquest and confiscation. No primitive State known to history originated in any other manner.

History

The university's business is the conservation of useless kno

The university's business is the conservation of useless knowledge and what the university itself apparently fails to see is that this enterprise is not only noble but indispensable as well, that society can not exist unless it goes on.

Knowledge

Useless knowledge can be made directly contributory to a for

Useless knowledge can be made directly contributory to a force of sound and disinterested public opinion.

Knowledge

Diligent as one must be in learning, one must be as diligent

Diligent as one must be in learning, one must be as diligent in forgetting otherwise the process is one of pedantry, not culture.

Learning

Considered now as a possession, one may define culture as th

Considered now as a possession, one may define culture as the residuum of a large body of useless knowledge that has been well and truly forgotten.

Knowledge

Concerning culture as a process, one would say that it means

Concerning culture as a process, one would say that it means learning a great many things and then forgetting them and the forgetting is as necessary as the learning.

Learning

As might be supposed, my parents were quite poor, but we som

As might be supposed, my parents were quite poor, but we somehow never seemed to lack anything we needed, and I never saw a trace of discontent or a failure in cheerfulness over their lot in life, as indeed over anything.

Failure

Perhaps the prevalence of pedantry may be largely accounted

Perhaps the prevalence of pedantry may be largely accounted for by the common error of thinking that, because useful knowledge should be remembered, any kind of knowledge that is at all worth learning should be remembered too.

Knowledge

Learning has always been made much of, but forgetting has al

Learning has always been made much of, but forgetting has always been deprecated therefore pedantry has pretty well established itself throughout the modern world at the expense of culture.

Learning