Charles William Eliot

Charles William Eliot (March 20, 1834 – August 22, 1926) was an American academic who served as Harvard University's president from 1869 until 1909.

Quotes

• A university teaches. What does it teach? It must obviously teach all the languages in which the great literatures which have been preserved were written — Hebrew, Arabic, Sanskrit, Greek, Latin, French, Italian, German, Scandinavian, and English.
  • Z. Elmarsafy; A. Bernard; D. Attwell (13 June 2013). Debating Orientalism. Springer. p. 82. ISBN 978-1-137-34111-2. 

• Enter to grow in wisdom. / Depart to serve better thy country and thy kind.
  • Over entrance (“Enter”) and exit (“Depart”) of Dexter gate (gift of Class of 1890) to Harvard Yard, erected 1901.
  • Alternatives Eliot considered included “Enter daily to grow in wisdom,” and “Depart to serve better thy country and mankind.”
  • Widely paraphrased as:
    • Enter to learn; go forth to serve.
  • Used by schools including Brigham Young University, Delaware State University, Tennessee State University, Keene State College, and Oakland City College.
  • Sometimes credited (in abbreviated form) to Margaret Sanger.
  • Sometimes parodied as: “Enter to learn; go forth to earn.”

Quotes about Eliot

• Eliot revolutionized the Harvard curriculum, transforming a moribund academic system for training clergy into a modern research institution at the forefront of American and international scholarship.
  • Z. Elmarsafy; A. Bernard; D. Attwell (13 June 2013). Debating Orientalism. Springer. p. 81. ISBN 978-1-137-34111-2.