Thomas Arnold (1795–1842) was an English educationalist and intellectual. He had a profound and enduring influence on the development of public school education in England. He was the father of the poet and cultural critic Matthew Arnold.
Born in East Cowes, Isle of Wight, Arnold was educated at Winchester and Corpus Christi College, Oxford.
As headmaster of Rugby School 1828–41, Arnold elevated his school to the rank of a great public school. It became the prototype for other English public schools and boarding schools all over the Western world.
Arnold broadened its curriculum, improved living conditions, raised the status of the masters, and launched many administrative reforms. He implemented a “prefect system” in which the older pupils served as house overseers to keep discipline among the younger boys.
Arnold’s weekly sermons were aimed at improving the character of the pupils and imbuing them with a sense of duty to the community. Arnold authored six volumes of sermons, an edition of Thucydides (1845,) and a History of Rome (3 vols., 1838–43.)
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Two things we ought to learn from history: one, that we are not in ourselves superior to our fathers; another, that we are shamefully and monstrously inferior to them, if we do not advance beyond them.
—Thomas Arnold
Topics: History
Real knowledge, like everything else of value, is not to be obtained easily. It must be worked for, studied for, thought for, and, more than all, must be prayed for.
—Thomas Arnold
Topics: Knowledge
Real knowledge, like everything else of the highest value, is not to be obtained easily. It must be worked for, studied for, thought for, and, more than all, it must be prayed for.
—Thomas Arnold
Topics: Knowledge
The difference between one man and another is not mere ability … it is energy.
—Thomas Arnold
Topics: Ability, Enthusiasm
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