Great Teaching Quotes

• A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops.

  Henry Adams

  Inspirational, Leadership, Education

  The Education of Henry Adams ch. 20 (1907)

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• The only person who is educated is the one who has learned how to learn and change.

  Carl Rogers

  Inspirational, Motivational, Education

  306 Copy quote

• Spoon feeding in the long run teaches us nothing but the shape of the spoon.

  E. M. Forster

  Inspirational, Education, Running

  "The BBC Talks of E.M. Forster, 1929-1960: A Selected Edition". Book by Edward Morgan Forster, ‎Mary Lago, ‎Linda K. Hughes, June 3, 2008.

  45 Copy quote

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  Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.

  Xunzi

  Inspiring, Leadership, Teacher

  373 Copy quote

• A teacher who is attempting to teach without inspiring the pupil with a desire to learn is hammering on cold iron.

  Horace Mann

  Inspirational, Inspiring, Education

  Horace Mann (1867). “Thoughts”, p.225

  57 Copy quote

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• There are two kinds of teachers: the kind that fill you with so much quail shot that you can't move, and the kind that just gives you a little prod behind and you jump to the skies.

  Robert Frost

  Inspirational, Education, Teacher

  17 Copy quote

• Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.

  Mahatma Gandhi

  Inspirational, Life, Motivational

  1161 Copy quote

• The teacher who is indeed wise does not bid you to enter the house of his wisdom but rather leads you to the threshold of your mind.

  Khalil Gibran

  Inspirational, Education, Wise

  Khalil Gibran (2007). “Kahlil Gibran: Masterpieces”

  81 Copy quote

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• Teachers are expected to reach unattainable goals with inadequate tools. The miracle is that at times they accomplish this impossible task.

  Haim Ginott

  Appreciation, Teacher, Teaching

  "Teacher and child". Book by Haim Ginott, 1972.

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• Good teaching is one-fourth preparation and three-fourths pure theatre.

  Gail Godwin

  Inspirational, Thank You, Education

  60 Copy quote
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  Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing can be done without hope and confidence.

  Helen Keller

  Inspirational, Motivational, Positive

  "Optimism". Essay by Helen Keller, 1903.

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• I am indebted to my father for living, but to my teacher for living well.

  Alexander the Great

  Fathers Day, Teacher, Appreciation

  567 Copy quote

• The whole purpose of education is to turn mirrors into windows.

  Sydney J. Harris

  Graduation, Education, Wall

  Sydney J. Harris (1985). “Pieces of Eight Pa”, Mariner Books

  174 Copy quote

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• One looks back with appreciation to the brilliant teachers, but with gratitude to those who touched our human feelings. The curriculum is so much necessary raw material, but warmth is the vital element for the growing plant and for the soul of the child.

  Carl Jung

  Thank You, Education, Thankful

  Carl Gustav Jung (1970). “The development of personality”

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• He who opens a school door, closes a prison.

  Victor Hugo

  Education, Appreciation, Teacher

  103 Copy quote
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  Make everything as simple as possible, but not simpler.

  Albert Einstein

  Inspirational, Funny, Witty

  156 Copy quote

• Most of us end up with no more than five or six people who remember us. Teachers have thousands of people who remember them for the rest of their lives.

  Andy Rooney

  Teacher, People, Literature

  "A profession brought back to life" by David Puttnam, www.theguardian.com. October 17, 2005.

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• Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds.

  Albert Einstein

  Inspirational, Motivational, Positive

  Albert Einstein (2015). “Bite-Size Einstein: Quotations on Just About Everything from the Greatest Mind of the Twentieth Century”, p.31, St. Martin's Press

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• What sculpture is to a block of marble, education is to the human soul.

  Joseph Addison

  Motivational, Inspiring, Education

  The Spectator, No. 215, November 6, 1711.

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• The true teacher defends his pupils against his own personal influence. He inspires self-trust. He guides their eyes from himself to the spirit that quickens him. He will have no disciples.

  Amos Bronson Alcott

  Education, Teacher, Teaching

  "Orphic Sayings: LXXX. Teacher". "The Dial", www.alcott.net. January 1841.

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• Teaching is not a lost art, but the regard for it is a lost tradition.

  Jacques Barzun

  Inspirational, Education, Appreciation

  1955 In Newsweek, 5 Dec.

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• In teaching you cannot see the fruit of a day's work. It is invisible and remains so, maybe for twenty years.

  Jacques Barzun

  Teacher, Appreciation, Educational

  44 Copy quote

• If you think education is expensive, try ignorance.

  Derek Bok

  Inspirational, Funny, Graduation

  Attributed in Paul Dickson, The Official Rules (1978). An earlier occurrence, without attribution to any individual, was in Wash. Post, 6 Oct. 1975.

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• It is important that students bring a certain ragamuffin, barefoot irreverence to their studies; they are not here to worship what is known, but to question it.

  Jacob Bronowski

  Inspirational, Education, Teacher

  "'The Ascent of Man' ('Knowledge or Certainty')". Documentary TV Mini-Series, Episode 11, 1973.

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• The object of education is to prepare the young to educate themselves throughout their lives.

  Robert M. Hutchins

  Life, Education, Teacher

  152 Copy quote