--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: A little instruction in the elements of…" description: "\"A little instruction in the elements of chartography—a little practice in the use of the compass and the spirit level, a topographical map of the town ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cd1/mary-antin-16350_common_a-little-instruction-in-the-elements-of_2092025.jpg" --- # A little instruction in the elements of chartography—a… ![“A little instruction in the elements of chartography—a little practice in the use of the compass and the spirit level, a topographical map of the town common, an excursion with a road map—would have given me a fat round earth in place of my paper ghost.” quote by Mary Antin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cd1/mary-antin-16350_common_a-little-instruction-in-the-elements-of_2092025.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cd1/mary-antin-16350_common_a-little-instruction-in-the-elements-of_2092025.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cd1/mary-antin-16350_common_a-little-instruction-in-the-elements-of_2092025.jpg) > “A little instruction in the elements of chartography—a little practice in the use of the compass and the spirit level, a topographical map of the town common, an excursion with a road map—would have given me a fat round earth in place of my paper ghost.” [Mary Antin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-antin/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Practical tools and maps give concrete understanding of the world, unlike abstract concepts that remain intangible. **In simple terms:** Tools make abstract ideas tangible. Key Takeaway Use concrete aids to grasp complex ideas. Themes education practicality navigation Mood practical instructive Type educational motivational When to use this quote - travel - urban planning - geography education - visual learning Key Concepts cartography learning methods Questions to Reflect On - What tools help you understand abstract concepts? - When have maps changed your perspective? A Different Perspective Relying solely on tools may neglect deeper critical thinking. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Compass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/compass/) [Earth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/earth/) [Elements](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/elements/) [Ghost](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ghost/) [Nature](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/nature/) [Practice](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/practice/) [Road map](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/road-map/) [Road maps](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/road-maps/) [Round earth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/round-earth/) [Rounds](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/rounds/) [Spirit](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/spirit/) ## Related quotes > [“because an American can have a double-barreled last name but there is little practice for a triple-barreled one.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roger-ebert/because-an-american-can-have-a-double-barreled-last-name-but-there-is/) [Roger Ebert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roger-ebert/) > [If Mozart, instead of playing the pianoforte at three years old with wonderfully little practice, had played a tune with no practice at all,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-darwin/if-mozart-instead-of-playing-the-pianoforte-at-three-years-old-with/) [Charles Darwin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-darwin/) > [I was on the show previously as a guest host, so I had a little practice.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rocco-dispirito/i-was-on-the-show-previously-as-a-guest-host-so-i-had-a-little/) [Rocco DiSpirito](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rocco-dispirito/) > [“The world is round while earth is sphere. I might see you again at the end point where the start point. Everyone knows how…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/salmon-sallos-chia/the-world-is-round-while-earth-is-sphere-i-might-see-you-again-at-the-2/) Salmon Sallos Chia > [The significance of Columbus's discovery was that on a round earth, humanity is more interconnected than on a flat one. On a round earth,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matt-taibbi/the-significance-of-columbus-s-discovery-was-that-on-a-round-earth/) [Matt Taibbi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matt-taibbi/) > [Recovery challenges the established order and as such, is a 'great idea' along with the ideas of evolution or a 'round earth'; turning all…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laurie-davidson/recovery-challenges-the-established-order-and-as-such-is-a-great-idea/) Laurie Davidson > [“The world is round while earth is sphere.I might see you again at the end point where the start point. Everyone know how to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/salmon-sallos-chia/the-world-is-round-while-earth-is-sphere-i-might-see-you-again-at-the/) Salmon Sallos CHia > [At the round earth's imagined corners, blow your trumpets, angels.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-donne/at-the-round-earth-s-imagined-corners-blow-your-trumpets-angels/) [John Donne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-donne/) > [We are more gullible and superstitious today than we were in the Middle Ages, and an example of modern credulity is the widespread belief…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-bernard-shaw/we-are-more-gullible-and-superstitious-today-than-we-were-in-the/) [George Bernard Shaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-bernard-shaw/) > [Rather than have it the principal thing in my son's mind, I would gladly have him think that the sun went round the earth,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-arnold/rather-than-have-it-the-principal-thing-in-my-son-s-mind-i-would/) [Thomas Arnold](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-arnold/) > [“Tell me," Wittgenstein's asked a friend, "why do people always say, it was natural for man to assume that the sun went round the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ludwig-wittgenstein/tell-me-wittgenstein-s-asked-a-friend-why-do-people-always-say-it-was/) [Ludwig Wittgenstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ludwig-wittgenstein/) > [At the round earth's imagined corners, blow Your trumpets, angels, and arise, arise From death, you numberless infinities Of souls \*\*\*\* All whom war,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-donne/at-the-round-earth-s-imagined-corners-blow-your-trumpets-angels-and/) [John Donne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-donne/) > [The Earth was small, light blue, and so touchingly alone, our home that must be defended like a holy relic. The Earth was absolutely…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexey-leonov/the-earth-was-small-light-blue-and-so-touchingly-alone-our-home-that/) Alexey Leonov > [Around, around the sun we go: The moon goes round the earth. We do not die of death: We die of vertigo.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/archibald-macleish/around-around-the-sun-we-go-the-moon-goes-round-the-earth-we-do-not/) [Archibald MacLeish](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/archibald-macleish/) > [Never in all their history have men been able truly to conceive of the world as one: a single sphere, a globe, having the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/archibald-macleish/never-in-all-their-history-have-men-been-able-truly-to-conceive-of/) [Archibald MacLeish](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/archibald-macleish/) ## More by Mary Antin > [On a royal birthday every house must fly a flag, or the owner would be dragged to a police station and be fined twenty-five…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-antin/on-a-royal-birthday-every-house-must-fly-a-flag-or-the-owner-would-be/) [Mary Antin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-antin/) > [A proper autobiography is a death-bed confession.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-antin/a-proper-autobiography-is-a-death-bed-confession/) [Mary Antin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-antin/) > [One current of continuity runs underneath all the abortive phases of my life. From childhood on I have been obliged to drop anything I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-antin/one-current-of-continuity-runs-underneath-all-the-abortive-phases-of/) [Mary Antin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-antin/) > [A proper autobiography is a death-bed confession. A true man finds so much work to do that he has no time to contemplate his…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-antin/a-proper-autobiography-is-a-death-bed-confession-a-true-man-finds-so/) [Mary Antin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-antin/) > [“The Wandering Jew in me seeks forgetfulness.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-antin/the-wandering-jew-in-me-seeks-forgetfulness/) [Mary Antin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-antin/) > [The past was only my cradle, and now it cannot hold me, because I am grown too big.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-antin/the-past-was-only-my-cradle-and-now-it-cannot-hold-me-because-i-am/) [Mary Antin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-antin/) > [It is painful to be consciously of two worlds. The Wandering Jew in me seeks forgetfulness. 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My father produced several kinds of food, ready to eat, without any cooking, from…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-antin/the-first-meal-was-an-object-lesson-of-much-variety-my-father/) [Mary Antin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-antin/) > [There was one public school for boys, and one for girls, but Jewish children were admitted in limited numbers - only ten to a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-antin/there-was-one-public-school-for-boys-and-one-for-girls-but-jewish/) [Mary Antin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-antin/) > [You went up to be examined with the other Jewish children, your heart heavy about that matter of your nose.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-antin/you-went-up-to-be-examined-with-the-other-jewish-children-your-heart/) [Mary Antin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-antin/) > [We are not born all at once, but by bits. The body first, and the spirit later; and the birth and growth of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-antin/we-are-not-born-all-at-once-but-by-bits-the-body-first-and-the-spirit/) [Mary Antin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-antin/) > [No, the czar did not want us in the schools.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-antin/no-the-czar-did-not-want-us-in-the-schools/) [Mary Antin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-antin/) > [As we moved along in a little procession, I was delighted with the illumination of the streets. So many lamps, and they burned until…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-antin/as-we-moved-along-in-a-little-procession-i-was-delighted-with-the/) [Mary Antin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-antin/) [Explore all 40 Mary Antin quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-antin/) ## More Common quotes > [I'm Fine!, the most common LIE in the world...](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/punkinhead-abhishek/i-m-fine-the-most-common-lie-in-the-world/) [Punkinhead Abhishek](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/punkinhead-abhishek/) > [A flourishing, morally credible media is a vital component in the maintenance of genuinely public talk, argument about common good.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rowan-williams/a-flourishing-morally-credible-media-is-a-vital-component-in-the/) [Rowan Williams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rowan-williams/) > [We find few historians who have been diligent enough in their search for truth; it is their common method to take on trust what…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-dryden/we-find-few-historians-who-have-been-diligent-enough-in-their-search/) [John Dryden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-dryden/) > [The ability of the gospel to unite us on common strengths and common truths is one of the great miracles . . . of the gospel.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeffrey-r-holland/the-ability-of-the-gospel-to-unite-us-on-common-strengths-and-common/) [Jeffrey R. Holland](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeffrey-r-holland/) > [Our times demand the declaration of the world's resources as the common heritage of all people.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jacque-fresco/our-times-demand-the-declaration-of-the-world-s-resources-as-the/) [Jacque Fresco](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jacque-fresco/) > [ Neither Italian fascism nor German national "socialism" have anything in common with such a \[Soviet socialistic\] society, primarily because private ownership of factories, plants,… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-stalin/neither-italian-fascism-nor-german-national-socialism-have-anything/) [Joseph Stalin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-stalin/) > [When you have a cavity in your tooth and you let it get worse, eventually you have to get a root canal. If you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/olivia-newton-john/when-you-have-a-cavity-in-your-tooth-and-you-let-it-get-worse/) [Olivia Newton-John](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/olivia-newton-john/) > [There is nothing that we can properly call our own but our time, and yet everybody fools us out of it who has a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seneca-the-younger/there-is-nothing-that-we-can-properly-call-our-own-but-our-time-and/) [Seneca the Younger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seneca-the-younger/) > [Common sense is nothing more than a deposit of prejudices laid down in the mind before you reach eighteen.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/albert-einstein/common-sense-is-nothing-more-than-a-deposit-of-prejudices-laid-down/) [Albert Einstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/albert-einstein/) > [A common fallacy in much of the adverse criticism to which science is subjected today is that it claims certainty, infallibility and complete emotional…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cyril-norman-hinshelwood/a-common-fallacy-in-much-of-the-adverse-criticism-to-which-science-is/) [Cyril Norman Hinshelwood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cyril-norman-hinshelwood/) > [We can find common qualities and common values that have made Britain the country it is. Our belief in tolerance and liberty which shines…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gordon-brown/we-can-find-common-qualities-and-common-values-that-have-made-britain/) [Gordon Brown](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gordon-brown/) > [A time will come when the science of destruction shall bend before the arts of peace; when the genius which multiplies our powers, which…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/francois-arago/a-time-will-come-when-the-science-of-destruction-shall-bend-before/) [Francois Arago](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/francois-arago/) > [… and so he tried to accept the ache in his heart as what Dr. Larch would call the common symptoms of normal life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-irving/and-so-he-tried-to-accept-the-ache-in-his-heart-as-what-dr-larch/) [John Irving](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-irving/) > [It is a tragedy that we live in a world where physical courage is so common, and moral courage is so rare.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/claude-monet/it-is-a-tragedy-that-we-live-in-a-world-where-physical-courage-is-so/) [Claude Monet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/claude-monet/) > [Those who advocate common usage in philosophy sometimes speak in a manner that suggests the mystique of the 'common man.'](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bertrand-russell/those-who-advocate-common-usage-in-philosophy-sometimes-speak-in-a/) [Bertrand Russell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bertrand-russell/) Browse all 7,866 Common quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "A little instruction in the elements of chartography—a little practice in the use of the compass and the spirit level, a topographical map of the town common, an excursion with a road map—would have given me a fat round earth in place of my paper ghost.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Mary Antin" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-antin/a-little-instruction-in-the-elements-of-chartography-a-little/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Common" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-antin/a-little-instruction-in-the-elements-of-chartography-a-little/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cd1/mary-antin-16350_common_a-little-instruction-in-the-elements-of_2092025.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cd1/mary-antin-16350_common_a-little-instruction-in-the-elements-of_2092025.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cd1/mary-antin-16350_common_a-little-instruction-in-the-elements-of_2092025.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“A little instruction in the elements of chartography—a little practice in the use of the compass and the…” — Mary Antin", "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": "Mary Antin", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-antin/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "A little instruction in the elements...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-antin/a-little-instruction-in-the-elements-of-chartography-a-little/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-antin/a-little-instruction-in-the-elements-of-chartography-a-little/#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 } } ] } ```