Attention & the world

What inspires you to learn?

40 answers answered between 1930 and 2026 one of 5 in 9 Questions

Originally asked

Vox, to writers and thinkers, 9 Questions, 2017

This exact prompt is one of Vox's nine recurring questions about intellectual habits.

You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.

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On the record

Public figures who have answered a question like this elsewhere. Quoted from the source shown, not written for FLAPSS.

Read by field Everyone Science and medicine 10 Arts and letters 16 Politics and public life 5 Business and finance 3 Technology 4 Sport 2
Read by age Any age In their thirties 1 In their forties 1 In their fifties 1 In their sixties 3
Order Earliest first Most recent Surprise me
Winston Churchill Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, 1940–1945 and 1951–1955; Member of Parliament 1900–1964
At this school I was allowed to learn things which interested me: French, History, lots of Poetry by heart, and above all Riding and Swimming. The impression of those years makes a pleasant picture in my mind, in strong contrast to my earlier schoolday memories.
Recorded Chapter of his autobiography, written at Chartwell in 1930, Winston S. Churchill, My Early Life (Thornton Butterworth, 1930), Project Gutenberg Canada, October 1930 source ↗
Sonia Sotomayor Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, 2009–present
And I realized that to get them I had to figure out how to study. And I did something that has helped me my entire life, and it’s something I still do, which is when I don’t know how to do something now I start reading about it. Back then I would ask people for help.
Recorded Washington, D.C., Academy of Achievement, 6 December 2016 source ↗
Leon Panetta Attorney and politician; Director of the Office of Management and Budget, White House Chief of Staff, Director of the CIA and Secretary of Defense
one of the things that I learned — and I also pass this on to our students — which is that knowledge is power.
Recorded Leadership in War and Peace, Academy of Achievement, 14 September 2017 source ↗
John Lewis U.S. Representative from Georgia, 1987–2020; Chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee 1963–1966
I wanted to know. I asked a lot of questions and she would say, "Read, read."…So she inspired me a great deal.
Recorded Julian Bond, Explorations in Black Leadership interview, Explorations in Black Leadership, University of Virginia source ↗
Desmond Tutu Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town; chair of South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission; Nobel Peace Prize, 1984
Ultimately, it’s a man who was teaching us English Literature in what we call matricula, the last 2 years of high school. He really was quite extraordinary. When he spoke of a Shakespearean play, you almost thought that he grew up with Shakespeare! He was very good, yes. A black guy who was fantastic and gave us a deep love for literature.
Recorded Academy of Achievement interview source ↗

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