B. Traven:
(Bruno Traven in some accounts) was the pen name of a novelist, presumed to be German, known for his novels on injustice and exploitation around the world, and especially in Mexico. His name, nationality, date and place of birth have been subject to dispute. One certainty about Traven’s life is that he lived under the name of Ret Marut in Germany until 1923 and arrived in 1924 in Mexico, where the majority of his fiction is also set—including The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1927), the film adaptation of which won three Academy Awards in 1949.
There is absolutely nothing that cannot be learned.
The sentence expresses a deeply democratic, anti-elitist optimism about human learning capacity: There is no innate, insurmountable limit to what a person can acquire—neither predetermined by origin, level of education, nor class affiliation. In the context of Traven’s work, which often addresses the exploitation of ordinary workers, the quote can also be read as a statement against the notion that certain people are “born” for certain (low) jobs or incapable of higher things. It fits with Traven’s general tone: respect for the dignity and competence of ordinary people, as well as distrust of authority and supposed “natural” hierarchies. Detached from its original context, the sentence is now frequently used more generally as an encouraging or motivational quote, in the sense that with enough willpower and perseverance, practically any skill can be learned.
Origin:
The quote comes from the novel “The Cotton Pickers” (also known as “The Wobbly”). It is documented in the 1978 edition published by Büchergilde Gutenberg, page 98. The novel belongs to Traven’s early works set in Mexico, which depict the harsh lives of migrant workers and day laborers—a milieu in which practical adaptability and the rapid acquisition of new skills were essential for survival.
Author:
The author is B. Traven (also known as Bruno Traven). B. Traven is the pseudonym of a German writer whose real name, date and place of birth, and details of his life remain disputed among literary scholars. What is certain, however, is that he spent the majority of his life in Mexico, where most of his novels and short stories are set. This mysterious biography makes him one of the most enigmatic figures in 20th-century German-language literature.
