---
title: "The common schools are the stomachs of the country in which all peopl… — Henry Ward Beecher Quote #8 | QuotesBy.net"
description: "The common schools are the stomachs of the country in which all people that come to us are assimilated within a generation. When a lion eats an ox, t… — a quote by Henry Ward Beecher."
image: "https://quotesby.net/wp-content/themes/quotesby-editorial/assets/og-default.png"
---

> # The common schools are the stomachs of the country in which all people that come to us are assimilated within a generation. When a lion eats an ox, the lion does not become an ox but the ox becomes a lion.

[Henry Ward Beecher](https://quotesby.net/Henry-Ward-Beecher)\#8

[Society](https://quotesby.net/Henry-Ward-Beecher/society/)[Culture](https://quotesby.net/topics/culture/)[Education](https://quotesby.net/topics/education/)

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## About this quote

What does it mean?Public education assimilates diverse people into a common culture rapidly.In plain termsSchools blend people into one culture.What can you take from it?Education helps integrate diverse populations.

### Where it applies

- immigration
- nation building
- community integration

### Putting it to work

- support public schools
- promote inclusion

### Questions to consider

- What role does school play in culture?
- Is assimilation always positive?

### Another view

Assimilation can erase valuable cultural diversity.

## More from Henry Ward Beecher

1. > When a nation's young men are conservative, its funeral bell is already rung.

[Permalink to quote \#7](https://quotesby.net/Henry-Ward-Beecher/7/ "Permalink to quote 7")
2. > Every artist dips his brush into his own soul, and paints his own nature into his pictures.

[Permalink to quote \#9](https://quotesby.net/Henry-Ward-Beecher/9/ "Permalink to quote 9")
3. > The one great poem of New England is her Sunday.

[Permalink to quote \#6](https://quotesby.net/Henry-Ward-Beecher/6/ "Permalink to quote 6")

## Related quotes

1. > One ought not to hoard culture. It should be adapted and infused into society as a leaven. Liberality of culture does not mean illiberality of its benefits.

[Wallace Stevens](https://quotesby.net/Wallace-Stevens)[Wallace Stevens quote \#1](https://quotesby.net/Wallace-Stevens/1/ "Permalink to quote 1")
2. > American life is a powerful solvent. It seems to neutralize every intellectual element, however tough and alien it may be, and to fuse it in the native good wi…

[George Santayana](https://quotesby.net/George-Santayana)[George Santayana quote \#3](https://quotesby.net/George-Santayana/3/ "Permalink to quote 3")
3. > Em geral, nos outros, os Portugueses, so comecamos a ser idiotas - quando chegamos a idade da razao. Em pequenos temos todos uma pontinha de genio.

[Jose Maria Eca de Queiroz](https://quotesby.net/Jose-Maria-Eca-de-Queiroz)[Jose Maria Eca de Queiroz quote \#5](https://quotesby.net/Jose-Maria-Eca-de-Queiroz/5/ "Permalink to quote 5")

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