Won’t Back Down — Quote About Education from John Adams

In the new movie “Won’t Back Down,” a teacher played by Viola Davis shares a quote about learning with her students.  It is especially apt for them because it comes from the man for whom their school was named, John Adams, the second President of the United States.  It comes from his 1765 “A Dissertation on the Canon and Feudal Law,” well worth reading in full.  Here it is, good advice for everyone:

Let us tenderly and kindly cherish, therefore, the means of knowledge. Let us dare to read, think, speak, and write.