Teacher quotes
5.3K quotes on this topic — from poets, philosophers, and thinkers across history.
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"During those long years in Oakland public schools, I did not have one teacher who taught me anything relevant to my own life or experience. Not one instructor ever awoke in me a desire to learn more or to question or to explore the worlds of literature, science, and history. All they did was try to rob me of the sense of my own uniqueness and worth, and in the process nearly killed my urge to inquire."
"Reading maketh a full man; conference a ready man; and writing an exact man."
"Vision is the Art of seeing Things invisible."
"What we want is to see the child in pursuit of knowledge, and not knowledge in pursuit of the child."
"What is a teacher? I'll tell you: it isn't someone who teaches something, but someone who inspires the student to give of her best in order to discover what she already knows."
"I'd rather learn from one bird how to sing than to teach ten thousand stars how not to dance."
"Time is the best of critics; and patience the best of teachers."
"Failure should be our teacher, not our undertaker. Failure is delay, not defeat. It is a temporary detour, not a dead end. Failure is something we can avoid only by saying nothing, doing nothing, and being nothing."
"A good teacher is one who can understand those who are not very good at explaining, and explain to those who are not very good at understanding."
"Those who educate children well are more to be honored than they who produce them; for these only gave them life, those the art of living well."
"Watch nature, because it is your greatest teacher. It moves and flows and moves on again. There is an incredible beauty out there in the mountains, in the forests, to teach you it's silence, it's beauty, it's humility. Stay aligned to that."
"A BMW can't take you as far as a diploma."
"History is a great teacher. Now everyone knows that the labor movement did not diminish the strength of the nation but enlarged it. By raising the living standards of millions, labor miraculously created a market for industry and lifted the whole nation to undreamed of levels of production. Those who attack labor forget these simple truths, but history remembers them."
"I like to look like a person. It drives me crazy when you see women in movies playing teachers, and they have biceps. It totally takes me out of the movie. I start thinking, Wow, that actress playing this part really looks great!"
"I am a big believer in education, because when I grew up in Austria - when I grew up in Austria I had a great education. I had great teachers."
"Anyone who keeps learning stays young."
"The teacher is no longer merely the-one-who-teaches, but one who is him/herself taught in dialogue with the students, who in turn while being taught also teach. They become jointly responsible for a process in which all grow."
"Blessed are the hearts that can bend; they shall never be broken."
"He who opens a school door, closes a prison."
"It is not enough for the teacher to love the child. She must first love and understand the universe. She must prepare herself, and truly work at it."
