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About this quote

What does it mean?
Education is viewed as the final resource for liberal values when other political avenues fail.
In plain terms
Education is the only hope left for liberal ideals.
What can you take from it?
Learning sustains progressive values.

Where it applies

  • political decline
  • social reform

Putting it to work

  • prioritizing academic freedom

Questions to consider

  • What saves a society in crisis?
  • Is knowledge enough to change systems?

Another view

Education alone cannot solve systemic political issues.

More from Edmund Wilson

  1. In a sense, one can never read the book that the author originally wrote, and one can never read the same book twice.

    Permalink to quote #1
  2. It may be that there is nothing more demoralizing than a small but adequate income.

    Permalink to quote #3
  3. Marxism is the opium of the intellectuals.

    Permalink to quote #4

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