There are few earthly things more beautiful than a university, a place where those who hate ignorance may strive to know, where those who perceive truth may strive to make others see. John Masefield
Everywhere I go, I’m asked if the universities stifle writers. My opinion is that they don’t stifle enough of them. Flannery O’Connor
The most important function of the university in an age of reason is to protect reason from itself. Allan Bloom
A university should be a place of light, of liberty, and of learning. Benjamin Disraeli
Let’s not burn the universities yet. After all, the damage they do might be worse. H L Mencken
They teach anything in universities today. You can major in mud pies. Orson Welles
The true university of these days is a collection of books. Thomas Carlyle
Most subjects at universities are taught for no other purpose than that they may be re-taught when the students become teachers. Georg Christoph Lichtenberg
There is only one justification for universities, as distinguished from trade schools. They must be centers of criticism. Robert M Hutchins
Our major universities are now stuck with an army of pedestrian, toadying careerists, Fifties types who wave around Sixties banners to conceal their record of ruthless, beaverlike tunneling to the top. Camille Paglia
A society that thinks the choice between ways of living is just a choice between equally eligible ‘lifestyles’ turns universities into academic cafeterias offering junk food for the mind. George F Will
Freedom of inquiry, freedom of discussion, and freedom of teaching – without these a university cannot exist. Robert M Hutchins