--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Culture is the endeavour to know the best…" description: "\"“Culture is the endeavour to know the best and to make this knowledge prevail for the good of all humankind.”\" — Matthew Arnold" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/598/matthew-arnold-1235_culture_culture-is-the-endeavour-to-know-the-bes_25437.jpg" --- # Culture is the endeavour to know the best and to make this… ![“Culture is the endeavour to know the best and to make this knowledge prevail for the good of all humankind.” quote by Matthew Arnold](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/598/matthew-arnold-1235_culture_culture-is-the-endeavour-to-know-the-bes_25437.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/598/matthew-arnold-1235_culture_culture-is-the-endeavour-to-know-the-bes_25437.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/598/matthew-arnold-1235_culture_culture-is-the-endeavour-to-know-the-bes_25437.jpg) > ““Culture is the endeavour to know the best and to make this knowledge prevail for the good of all humankind.”” [Matthew Arnold](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matthew-arnold/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Culture seeks the highest knowledge and strives to disseminate it for humanity's collective benefit. **In simple terms:** Elevating shared wisdom for all. Key Takeaway Culture is a collective pursuit of superior knowledge. Themes knowledge humanism collective good education progress ethics Mood inspirational optimistic thoughtful Type aphorism philosophical statement When to use this quote - academic curricula - public policy formation - community outreach programs - media content creation Key Concepts cultural development shared values intellectual advancement Practical Applications - designing inclusive educational platforms - shaping public discourse Questions to Reflect On - How can societies ensure that valuable knowledge reaches marginalized groups? - What mechanisms protect cultural knowledge from misuse? ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Culture](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/culture/) [Knowledge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/knowledge/) ## Related quotes > [You move forward through knowledge. You prevail through knowledge. I love the word 'prevail.' Prevail!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-d-watson/you-move-forward-through-knowledge-you-prevail-through-knowledge-i/) [James D. Watson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-d-watson/) > [“Information is agnostic. Meaning isn't. The meaning you make with this knowledge is up to you.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/beau-lotto/information-is-agnostic-meaning-isn-t-the-meaning-you-make-with-this/) [Beau Lotto](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/beau-lotto/) > [“It takes use to make knowledge worthwhile.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/j-s-morin/it-takes-use-to-make-knowledge-worthwhile/) [J.S. Morin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/j-s-morin/) > [Make knowledge of the Scripture your love ... Live with them, meditate on them, make them the sole object of your knowledge and inquiries.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/st-jerome/make-knowledge-of-the-scripture-your-love-live-with-them-meditate-on/) [St. Jerome](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/st-jerome/) > [The world is becoming increasingly changeable and unpredictable, so why should education make the knowledge being passed on so finite and certain; why divide…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-rosen/the-world-is-becoming-increasingly-changeable-and-unpredictable-so/) [Michael Rosen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-rosen/) > [Knowing you might not make it... in that knowledge courage is born.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-s-burroughs/knowing-you-might-not-make-it-in-that-knowledge-courage-is-born/) [William S. Burroughs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-s-burroughs/) > [It is just as important to make knowledge live and keep it alive as to solve specific problems.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/albert-einstein/it-is-just-as-important-to-make-knowledge-live-and-keep-it-alive-as/) [Albert Einstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/albert-einstein/) > [It is necessary, in order to know things well, to know the particulars of them; and these, being infinite, make our knowledge eversuperficial and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/francois-de-la-rochefoucauld/it-is-necessary-in-order-to-know-things-well-to-know-the-particulars/) [Francois de La Rochefoucauld](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/francois-de-la-rochefoucauld/) > [The improvement of the understanding is for two ends; first, for our own increase of knowledge; secondly, to enable us to deliver and make…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-locke/the-improvement-of-the-understanding-is-for-two-ends-first-for-our/) [John Locke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-locke/) > [The essence of management is to make knowledge productive.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-drucker/the-essence-of-management-is-to-make-knowledge-productive/) [Peter Drucker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-drucker/) > [You make knowledge relevant to life and you make it important for children to learn things that will really relate to things going on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/talib-kweli/you-make-knowledge-relevant-to-life-and-you-make-it-important-for/) [Talib Kweli](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/talib-kweli/) > [Wisdom is not knowledge, but lies in the use we make of knowledge.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nilakanta-sri-ram/wisdom-is-not-knowledge-but-lies-in-the-use-we-make-of-knowledge/) [Nilakanta Sri Ram](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nilakanta-sri-ram/) > [Why do we make so much of knowledge, struggle so hard to get some little skill not worth the effort?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/euripides/why-do-we-make-so-much-of-knowledge-struggle-so-hard-to-get-some/) [Euripides](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/euripides/) > [A primary task of management in the developed countries in the decades ahead will be to make knowledge productive.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-drucker/a-primary-task-of-management-in-the-developed-countries-in-the/) [Peter Drucker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-drucker/) > [Since the discovery of printing, knowledge has been called to power, and power has been used to make knowledge a slave.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/napoleon-bonaparte/since-the-discovery-of-printing-knowledge-has-been-called-to-power/) [Napoleon Bonaparte](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/napoleon-bonaparte/) ## More by Matthew Arnold > [Culture looks beyond machinery, culture hates hatred; culture has one great passion, the passion for sweetness and light.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matthew-arnold/culture-looks-beyond-machinery-culture-hates-hatred-culture-has-one/) [Matthew Arnold](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matthew-arnold/) > [We must hold fast to the austere but true doctrine as to what really governs politics and saves or destroys states. Having in mind…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matthew-arnold/we-must-hold-fast-to-the-austere-but-true-doctrine-as-to-what-really/) [Matthew Arnold](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matthew-arnold/) > [The difference between genuine poetry and the poetry of Dryden, Pope, and all their school, is briefly this: their poetry is conceived and composed…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matthew-arnold/the-difference-between-genuine-poetry-and-the-poetry-of-dryden-pope/) [Matthew Arnold](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matthew-arnold/) > [Culture, the acquainting ourselves with the best that has been known and said in the world, and thus with the history of the human…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matthew-arnold/culture-the-acquainting-ourselves-with-the-best-that-has-been-known/) [Matthew Arnold](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matthew-arnold/) > [Strew on her roses, roses, And never a spray of yew! In quiet she reposes; Ah, would that I did too!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matthew-arnold/strew-on-her-roses-roses-and-never-a-spray-of-yew-in-quiet-she/) [Matthew Arnold](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matthew-arnold/) > [Nature, with equal mind, Sees all her sons at play, Sees man control the wind, The wind sweep man away.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matthew-arnold/nature-with-equal-mind-sees-all-her-sons-at-play-sees-man-control-the/) [Matthew Arnold](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matthew-arnold/) > [Six years-six little years-six drops of time.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matthew-arnold/six-years-six-little-years-six-drops-of-time/) [Matthew Arnold](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matthew-arnold/) > [Let the long contention cease! / Geese are swans, and swans are geese.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matthew-arnold/let-the-long-contention-cease-geese-are-swans-and-swans-are-geese/) [Matthew Arnold](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matthew-arnold/) > [It is almost impossible to exaggerate the proneness of the human mind to take miracles as evidence, and to seek for miracles as evidence.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matthew-arnold/it-is-almost-impossible-to-exaggerate-the-proneness-of-the-human-mind/) [Matthew Arnold](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matthew-arnold/) > [Religion is ethics heightened, enkindled, lit up by feeling](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matthew-arnold/religion-is-ethics-heightened-enkindled-lit-up-by-feeling/) [Matthew Arnold](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matthew-arnold/) > [Genius is mainly an affair of energy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matthew-arnold/genius-is-mainly-an-affair-of-energy/) [Matthew Arnold](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matthew-arnold/) > [Culture is both an intellectual phenomenon and a moral one](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matthew-arnold/culture-is-both-an-intellectual-phenomenon-and-a-moral-one/) [Matthew Arnold](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matthew-arnold/) > [English civilization the humanizing, the bringing into one harmonious and truly humane life, of the whole body of English society that is what interests…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matthew-arnold/english-civilization-the-humanizing-the-bringing-into-one-harmonious/) [Matthew Arnold](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matthew-arnold/) > [“Wandering between two worlds, one dead The other powerless to be born, With nowhere yet to rest my head Like these, on earth I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matthew-arnold/wandering-between-two-worlds-one-dead-the-other-powerless-to-be-born/) [Matthew Arnold](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matthew-arnold/) > [Culture being a pursuit of our total perfection by means of getting to know, on all the matters which most concern us, the best…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matthew-arnold/culture-being-a-pursuit-of-our-total-perfection-by-means-of-getting/) [Matthew Arnold](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matthew-arnold/) [Explore all 267 Matthew Arnold quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matthew-arnold/) ## More Culture quotes > [What sets worlds in motion is the interplay of differences, their attractions and repulsions. Life is plurality, death is uniformity. By suppressing differences and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/octavio-paz/what-sets-worlds-in-motion-is-the-interplay-of-differences-their/) [Octavio Paz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/octavio-paz/) > [Philosopher is a dictator who modifies accepted standards with his thoughts.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ilkin-santak/philosopher-is-a-dictator-who-modifies-accepted-standards-with-his/) [Ilkin Santak](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ilkin-santak/) > [A lot of indigenous cultures are deeply involved in working with ancestor spirits, elemental spirits, and demons. Many of these cultures feel that, if…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-pinchbeck/a-lot-of-indigenous-cultures-are-deeply-involved-in-working-with/) [Daniel Pinchbeck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-pinchbeck/) > [In the hearing world, I'm constantly having to lip-read and trying to understand what's going on. Sign language is so beautiful. It gives you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rose-ayling-ellis/in-the-hearing-world-i-m-constantly-having-to-lip-read-and-trying-to/) [Rose Ayling-Ellis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rose-ayling-ellis/) > [I was born and raised in Orlando, where the economy and culture has been powerfully shaped by tourism, and so I've long been interested…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laura-van-den-berg/i-was-born-and-raised-in-orlando-where-the-economy-and-culture-has/) [Laura van den Berg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laura-van-den-berg/) > [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/) > [The U.S.-Mexican border es un herida abierta where the Third World grates against the first and bleeds. And before a scab forms it hemorrhages…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gloria-e-anzald-a/the-u-s-mexican-border-es-un-herida-abierta-where-the-third-world/) [Gloria E. Anzaldúa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gloria-e-anzald-a/) > [What it comes down to for me is this: Will the technologies of communication in our culture, serve to enlighten us and help us…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roger-waters/what-it-comes-down-to-for-me-is-this-will-the-technologies-of/) [Roger Waters](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roger-waters/) > [I think it's useful to experience other types of dance and other cultures, and the life of a classical dancer these days is certainly…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/deborah-bull/i-think-it-s-useful-to-experience-other-types-of-dance-and-other/) [Deborah Bull](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/deborah-bull/) > [In the movie, the stars above the ship bear no correspondence to any constellations in a real sky. Worse yet, while the heroine bobs...…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neil-degrasse-tyson/in-the-movie-the-stars-above-the-ship-bear-no-correspondence-to-any/) [Neil deGrasse Tyson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neil-degrasse-tyson/) > [It is not my intention to explain Turkey, its culture and its problems. My literature has a universal concern: I want to bring people…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/orhan-pamuk/it-is-not-my-intention-to-explain-turkey-its-culture-and-its-problems/) [Orhan Pamuk](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/orhan-pamuk/) > [I don't think the distinction between high and low culture exists anymore.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeremy-scott/i-don-t-think-the-distinction-between-high-and-low-culture-exists/) [Jeremy Scott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeremy-scott/) > [You get below the Mason-Dixon line and you have some of the best music, culture, the two races, the literature, and it's so rich.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-duvall/you-get-below-the-mason-dixon-line-and-you-have-some-of-the-best/) [Robert Duvall](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-duvall/) > [It is proposed that a form of free dialogue may well be one of the most effective ways of investigating the crisis which faces…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-bohm/it-is-proposed-that-a-form-of-free-dialogue-may-well-be-one-of-the/) [David Bohm](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-bohm/) > [“Being grounded in your lifelong culture and your personal perspective, you are comfortable with the way you see things and may believe it is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-c-young/being-grounded-in-your-lifelong-culture-and-your-personal-perspective/) [Susan C. Young](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-c-young/) [Browse all 15,940 Culture quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/culture/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Culture is the endeavour to know the best and to make this knowledge prevail for the good of all humankind.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Matthew Arnold" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matthew-arnold/culture-is-the-endeavour-to-know-the-best-and-to-make-this-knowledge/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Culture" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matthew-arnold/culture-is-the-endeavour-to-know-the-best-and-to-make-this-knowledge/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/598/matthew-arnold-1235_culture_culture-is-the-endeavour-to-know-the-bes_25437.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/598/matthew-arnold-1235_culture_culture-is-the-endeavour-to-know-the-bes_25437.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/598/matthew-arnold-1235_culture_culture-is-the-endeavour-to-know-the-bes_25437.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Culture is the endeavour to know the best and to make this knowledge prevail for the good of all humankind.” — Matthew Arnold", "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": "Matthew Arnold", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matthew-arnold/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“Culture is the endeavour to know...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matthew-arnold/culture-is-the-endeavour-to-know-the-best-and-to-make-this-knowledge/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matthew-arnold/culture-is-the-endeavour-to-know-the-best-and-to-make-this-knowledge/#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 } } ] } ```