Childhood must be taught how to think, not what to think.

It is utterly false and cruelly arbitrary to put all the play and learning into childhood, all the work into middle age, and all the regrets into old age.

Source: Margaret Mead, As quoted in Teacher’s Treasury of Stories for Every Occasion (1958) by Millard Dale Baughman, page: 69.

Children must be taught how to think, not what to think.

Source: Coming of Age in Samoa: A Psychological Study of Primitive Youth for Western Civilisation (1928) by Margaret Mead.

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Children must be taught how to think, not what to think.

My grandmother wanted me to have an education, so she kept me out of school.

Never believe that a few caring people can’t change the world. For, indeed, that’s all who ever have.

Source: Margaret Mead, The World Ahead: An Anthropologist Anticipates the Future.

Always remember that you are absolutely unique. Just like everyone else.

Note: This was designated “Meade’s Maxim” in a 1979 book (1,001 Logical Laws…, p. 153), and not linked directly to Margaret Mead; since around 2001, this has often been attributed to Mead, but there is no definitely documented evidence of this.