--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: The great difficulty in education is to…" description: "\"The great difficulty in education is to get experience out of ideas.\" — George Santayana" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/daf/george-santayana-478_adversity_the-great-difficulty-in-education-is-to_802046.png" --- # The great difficulty in education is to get experience out… ![“The great difficulty in education is to get experience out of ideas.” quote by George Santayana](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/daf/george-santayana-478_adversity_the-great-difficulty-in-education-is-to_802046.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/daf/george-santayana-478_adversity_the-great-difficulty-in-education-is-to_802046.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/daf/george-santayana-478_adversity_the-great-difficulty-in-education-is-to_802046.png) > “The great difficulty in education is to get experience out of ideas.” [George Santayana](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-santayana/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Education struggles to translate abstract ideas into practical experience. **In simple terms:** Ideas need real‑world application. Key Takeaway Bridge theory with hands‑on practice. Themes education experience ideas application learning Mood analytical reflective Type philosophical educational When to use this quote - classroom teaching - vocational training - internships - research projects Key Concepts pedagogy cognitive science experiential learning Questions to Reflect On - How can educators make abstract concepts tangible? - What role does experience play in deep learning? A Different Perspective Some ideas resist practical implementation due to complexity. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Adversity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/adversity/) [Education](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/education/) [Experience](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/experience/) [Ideas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ideas/) ## Related quotes > [The difficulty in our education up till now lies, for the most part, in the fact that knowledge did not refine itself into will,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/max-stirner/the-difficulty-in-our-education-up-till-now-lies-for-the-most-part-in/) [Max Stirner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/max-stirner/) > [I used to find great difficulty in drawing feet.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ida-rentoul-outhwaite/i-used-to-find-great-difficulty-in-drawing-feet/) [Ida Rentoul Outhwaite](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ida-rentoul-outhwaite/) > [Quite a few, actually, are involved in education. They have had the same experience Hanna and I had: when they started having their own…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-greenberg/quite-a-few-actually-are-involved-in-education-they-have-had-the-same/) [Daniel Greenberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-greenberg/) > [The secret of life is not enjoyment but education through experience.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sivananda/the-secret-of-life-is-not-enjoyment-but-education-through-experience/) [Sivananda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sivananda/) > [Do you know the difference between education and experience? Education is when you read the fine print; experience is what you get when you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bhaboo/do-you-know-the-difference-between-education-and-experience-education-2/) [Bhaboo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bhaboo/) > [My whole life has been learning to lead, from my parents, to my education, to the experience I had in the private sector, to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mitt-romney/my-whole-life-has-been-learning-to-lead-from-my-parents-to-my/) [Mitt Romney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mitt-romney/) > [Education. Experience. Or are they the same thing?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/julian-fellowes/education-experience-or-are-they-the-same-thing/) [Julian Fellowes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/julian-fellowes/) > [“Education is experience and experience is self-reliance.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-h-white-2/education-is-experience-and-experience-is-self-reliance/) [T. H. White](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-h-white-2/) > [It is a great difficulty and a great necessity to have to start with the smallest.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-klee/it-is-a-great-difficulty-and-a-great-necessity-to-have-to-start-with/) [Paul Klee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-klee/) > [Do you know the difference between education and experience? Education is when you read the fine print; experience is what you get when you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pete-seeger/do-you-know-the-difference-between-education-and-experience-education/) [Pete Seeger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pete-seeger/) > [Sometimes things have to go very wrong before they can be right. Sometimes you have to go through the worst, to arrive at your…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dirgha/sometimes-things-have-to-go-very-wrong-before-they-can-be-right/) [Dirgha](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dirgha/) > [Education is experience, and the essence of experience is self-reliance.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/education-is-experience-and-the-essence-of-experience-is-self-reliance/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Fine and delicate taste is the fruit of education and experience.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-auguste-dominique-ingres/fine-and-delicate-taste-is-the-fruit-of-education-and-experience/) [Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-auguste-dominique-ingres/) > [The key to education is the experience of beauty.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-schiller/the-key-to-education-is-the-experience-of-beauty/) [Friedrich Schiller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-schiller/) > [If your education is not enough, experience will teach you lessons.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/narendra-modi/if-your-education-is-not-enough-experience-will-teach-you-lessons/) [Narendra Modi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/narendra-modi/) ## More by George Santayana > [Perhaps the universe is nothing but an equilibrium of idiocies.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-santayana/perhaps-the-universe-is-nothing-but-an-equilibrium-of-idiocies/) [George Santayana](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-santayana/) > [The combative instinct is a savage prompting by which one man's good is found in another's evil.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-santayana/the-combative-instinct-is-a-savage-prompting-by-which-one-man-s-good/) [George Santayana](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-santayana/) > [Sanctity and genius are as rebellious as vice.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-santayana/sanctity-and-genius-are-as-rebellious-as-vice/) [George Santayana](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-santayana/) > [To attempt to be religious without practicing a specific religion is as possible as attempting to speak without a specific language.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-santayana/to-attempt-to-be-religious-without-practicing-a-specific-religion-is/) [George Santayana](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-santayana/) > [“The contemporary world has turned its back on the attempt and even on the desire to live reasonably.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-santayana/the-contemporary-world-has-turned-its-back-on-the-attempt-and-even-on/) [George Santayana](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-santayana/) > [The pride of the artisan in his art and its uses is pride in himself...It is in his skill and ability to make things…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-santayana/the-pride-of-the-artisan-in-his-art-and-its-uses-is-pride-in-himself/) [George Santayana](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-santayana/) > [If pain could have cured us we should long ago have been saved.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-santayana/if-pain-could-have-cured-us-we-should-long-ago-have-been-saved/) [George Santayana](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-santayana/) > [Towers in a modern town are a frill and a survival; they seem like the raised hands of the various churches, afraid of being…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-santayana/towers-in-a-modern-town-are-a-frill-and-a-survival-they-seem-like-the/) [George Santayana](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-santayana/) > [Wealth, religion, military victory have more rhetorical than efficacious worth.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-santayana/wealth-religion-military-victory-have-more-rhetorical-than/) [George Santayana](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-santayana/) > [Whoever it was who searched the heavens with a telescope and found no God would not have found the human mind if he had…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-santayana/whoever-it-was-who-searched-the-heavens-with-a-telescope-and-found-no/) [George Santayana](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-santayana/) > [It is easier to make a saint out of a libertine than out of a prig.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-santayana/it-is-easier-to-make-a-saint-out-of-a-libertine-than-out-of-a-prig/) [George Santayana](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-santayana/) > [Experience is a mere whiff or rumble, produced by enormously complex and ill-deciphered causes of experience; and in the other direction, experience is a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-santayana/experience-is-a-mere-whiff-or-rumble-produced-by-enormously-complex/) [George Santayana](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-santayana/) > [Miracles are propitious accidents, the natural causes of which are too complicated to be readily understood.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-santayana/miracles-are-propitious-accidents-the-natural-causes-of-which-are-too/) [George Santayana](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-santayana/) > [Memory itself is an internal rumour; and when to this hearsay within the mind we add the falsified echoes that reach us from others,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-santayana/memory-itself-is-an-internal-rumour-and-when-to-this-hearsay-within/) [George Santayana](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-santayana/) > [Familiarity breeds contempt only when it breeds inattention.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-santayana/familiarity-breeds-contempt-only-when-it-breeds-inattention/) [George Santayana](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-santayana/) [Explore all 530 George Santayana quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-santayana/) ## More Adversity quotes > [We love playing together and we love adversity. You know, back-to-back, the two best teams in the East.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steve-nash/we-love-playing-together-and-we-love-adversity-you-know-back-to-back/) [Steve Nash](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steve-nash/) > [When we have public success we also have private struggles.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/deion-sanders/when-we-have-public-success-we-also-have-private-struggles/) [Deion Sanders](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/deion-sanders/) > [“The threats that resurfaced in the past 10 years were not an aberration. Al Qaeda and terrorism or one such threat, but it was…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-friedman/the-threats-that-resurfaced-in-the-past-10-years-were-not-an/) [George Friedman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-friedman/) > [He who is content with what has been done is an obstacle in the path of progress.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/helen-keller/he-who-is-content-with-what-has-been-done-is-an-obstacle-in-the-path/) [Helen Keller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/helen-keller/) > [“Friction is necessary. Ease of life leads to complacency and the atrophy of the human will and spirit. Within our struggles lives our strength,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jason-versey/friction-is-necessary-ease-of-life-leads-to-complacency-and-the/) [Jason Versey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jason-versey/) > [“Every adversity is just another opportunity to excel a little more.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-templet/every-adversity-is-just-another-opportunity-to-excel-a-little-more/) [Michel Templet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-templet/) > [“Just because she doesn't talk about it, doesn't mean she isn't feeling it. She hurts, but she won't wear it on her sleeve. She…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alfa-h/just-because-she-doesn-t-talk-about-it-doesn-t-mean-she-isn-t-feeling/) [Alfa H](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alfa-h/) > [Every trial endured and weathered in the right spirit makes a soul nobler and stronger than it was before.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-buckham-kennedy/every-trial-endured-and-weathered-in-the-right-spirit-makes-a-soul/) James Buckham Kennedy > [Honesty, by evil fortune tried, Finds in adversity the seed of praise.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ovid/honesty-by-evil-fortune-tried-finds-in-adversity-the-seed-of-praise/) [Ovid](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ovid/) > [“Struggles are not associated to a particular people or creed, everyone struggles, not for the same reasons, but each has a personal struggle at…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wayne-chirisa/struggles-are-not-associated-to-a-particular-people-or-creed-everyone/) [Wayne Chirisa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wayne-chirisa/) > [“Watch a man in times of adversity to discover what kind of man he is; for then at last words of truth are drawn…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lucretius/watch-a-man-in-times-of-adversity-to-discover-what-kind-of-man-he-is/) [Lucretius](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lucretius/) > [God often hides His blessing in trouble or trial, which makes it all the sweeter when it comes our way.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aiden-wilson-tozer/god-often-hides-his-blessing-in-trouble-or-trial-which-makes-it-all/) [Aiden Wilson Tozer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aiden-wilson-tozer/) > [“Life is not about less mistakes but about more trials”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/s-e-sever/life-is-not-about-less-mistakes-but-about-more-trials/) S.E. SEVER > [Show your contempt for the problem and your concern for the person.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jim-rohn/show-your-contempt-for-the-problem-and-your-concern-for-the-person/) [Jim Rohn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jim-rohn/) > [When everything feels like an uphill struggle, just think of the view from the top.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/when-everything-feels-like-an-uphill-struggle-just-think-of-the-view/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) [Browse all 5,001 Adversity quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/adversity/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "The great difficulty in education is to get experience out of ideas.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "George Santayana" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-santayana/the-great-difficulty-in-education-is-to-get-experience-out-of-ideas/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Adversity" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-santayana/the-great-difficulty-in-education-is-to-get-experience-out-of-ideas/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/daf/george-santayana-478_adversity_the-great-difficulty-in-education-is-to_802046.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/daf/george-santayana-478_adversity_the-great-difficulty-in-education-is-to_802046.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/daf/george-santayana-478_adversity_the-great-difficulty-in-education-is-to_802046.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“The great difficulty in education is to get experience out of ideas.” — George Santayana", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "George Santayana", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-santayana/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "The great difficulty in education is...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-santayana/the-great-difficulty-in-education-is-to-get-experience-out-of-ideas/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-santayana/the-great-difficulty-in-education-is-to-get-experience-out-of-ideas/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```