I'm starting Dickens' Hard Times.The essay that accompanied it was well written. But the first paragraph,(clearly not what Dickens believed) made me wish I could make the speaker hear me yell "Bullshit! One idea is worth ten thousand facts!"


Chapter I — The One Thing Needful
“NOW, what I want is, Facts. Teach these boys and girls nothing but Facts. Facts alone are wanted in life. Plant nothing else, and root out everything else. You can only form the minds of reasoning animals upon Facts: nothing else will ever be of any service to them. This is the principle on which I bring up my own children, and this is the principle on which I bring up these children. Stick to Facts, sir!”