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I agree as to the doubtful value of competitive examination. The qualities which you really want, viz., self-control, self-reliance, habits of accurate thought, integrity and what you generally call trustworthiness, are not decided by competitive examination, which test little else than the memory.

— Florence Nightingale

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Memory

More quotes by Florence Nightingale

To understand God's thoughts we must study statistics, for these are the measure of His purpose.

It may seem a strange principle to enunciate as the very first requirement in a Hospital that it should do the sick no harm.

Notes on Hospitals 3rd Edition (1863)

Law is the continuous manifestation of God's presence — not reason for believing him absent.

Suggestions for Thought : Selections and Commentaries (1994)

Can the "word" be pinned down to either one period or one church? All churches are, of course, only more or less unsuccessful attempts to represent the unseen to the mind.

It is very well to say "be prudent, be careful, try to know each other." But how are you to know each other?

Cassandra (1860)

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Women and elephants never forget an injury.

Saki Reginald (1904)

Man should possess an infinite appetite for life. It should be self-evident to him, all the time, that life is superb, glorious, endlessly rich, infinitely desirable.

Colin Wilson The Philosopher's Stone (1969)

To live in hearts we leave behind
Is not to die.

Thomas Campbell

In the practical use of our intellect, forgetting is as important a function as recollecting.

William James The Principles of Psychology (1890)

Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Florence Nightingale (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.