If no one ever helps me, how will I learn?
December 9, 2011 2:18 PM   Subscribe

Do you know the origin of this quote? Something along the lines of, "If no one ever hits you, how will you learn?"

I stumbled across it a few years ago--possibly on an acquaintance's IM status--and I'm pretty sure at the time I researched and found it attributed to, like, J. M. Barrie or Charles Dickens or Mark Twain. I wanted to look it up to quote it recently, though, and couldn't find it at all. It's certainly possible that I've got the phrasing wrong, but I know I was able to find it before. Do you know it? If it helps, I'm pretty sure the original context is less... abuse-y than it might come off out of context, though I think it was intended as sage advice for a woman or a child.
posted by rhiannonstone to Writing & Language (4 answers total) 6 users marked this as a favorite
 
Best answer: "If you hide your ignorance, no one will hit you and you'll never learn." --Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451
posted by decathecting at 2:22 PM on December 9, 2011 [2 favorites]


Best answer: Oh, and the full quote is: "You're afraid of making mistakes. Don't be. Mistakes can be profited by. Man, when I was young I shoved my ignorance in people's faces. They beat me with sticks. By the time I was forty my blunt instrument had been honed to a fine cutting point for me. If you hide your ignorance, no one will hit you and you'll never learn." So, yes, less abuse-y than it sounds out of context.
posted by decathecting at 2:23 PM on December 9, 2011 [13 favorites]


Response by poster: Correct answer in 4 minutes! I heart MetaFilter. Thanks, decathecting!
posted by rhiannonstone at 2:24 PM on December 9, 2011


They hoped you, and you learned.
posted by kengraham at 3:23 PM on December 9, 2011 [2 favorites]


« Older How do I put on my backpack so I don't give myself...   |   I'm getting "rear-ended' by an insurance company... Newer »
This thread is closed to new comments.