Teacher Appreciation Day Quotes

• 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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• Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.

  William Butler Yeats

  Inspirational, Motivational, Graduation

  "Gov. Brown Uses State of the State Speech to Push Education Reforms" by Adolfo Guzman-Lopez, www.scpr.org. January 24, 2013.

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• The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires.

  William Arthur Ward

  Motivational, Leadership, Basketball

  William Arthur Ward (1968). “Thoughts of a Christian Optimist: The Words of William Arthur Ward”

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• What the teacher is, is more important than what he teaches.

  Karl A. Menninger

  Teacher, Appreciation, Retirement

  76 Copy quote

• The dream begins with a teacher who believes in you, who tugs and pushes and leads you to the next plateau, sometimes poking you with a sharp stick called 'truth'.

  Dan Rather

  Thank You, Education, Dream

  Dan Rather (1984). “The Camera Never Blinks”, Ballantine Books

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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

  569 Copy quote

• 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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• The task of the excellent teacher is to stimulate 'apparently ordinary' people to unusual effort. The tough problem is not in identifying winners: it is in making winners out of ordinary people.

  K. Patricia Cross

  Education, Appreciation, Teacher

  62 Copy quote

• Teachers, I believe, are the most responsible and important members of society because their professional efforts affect the fate of the earth.

  Helen Caldicott

  Teacher, Appreciation, Teaching

  Helen Caldicott (2009). “If You Love This Planet: A Plan to Save the Earth (Revised and updated)”, p.220, W. W. Norton & Company

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• I like a teacher who gives you something to take home to think about besides homework.

  Lily Tomlin

  Education, Appreciation, Teacher

  174 Copy quote

• The children are now working as if I did not exist.

  Maria Montessori

  Education, Teacher, Children

  "The Absorbent Mind" by Maria Montessori, Ch. 27, (p. 283), 1949.

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• The best teacher is the one who suggests rather than dogmatizes, and inspires his listener with the wish to teach himself.

  Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton

  Inspirational, Leadership, Education

  18 Copy quote

• The greatest sign of success for a teacher...is to be able to say, "The children are now working as if I did not exist."

  Maria Montessori

  Inspirational, Life, Success

  "The Absorbent Mind" by Maria Montessori, Ch. 27, (p. 283), 1949.

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• 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

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• The hardest arithmetic to master is that which enables us to count our blessings.

  Eric Hoffer

  Thank You, Thankful, Gratitude

  "Reflections on the Human Condition" by Eric Hoffer, (Section 172), 1973.

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• The authority of those who teach is often an obstacle to those who want to learn.

  Marcus Tullius Cicero

  Inspirational, Education, Teacher

  68 Copy quote

• Who dares to teach must never cease to learn.

  John Cotton Dana

  Inspirational, Education, Appreciation

  John Cotton Dana's remarks on a quotation suitable for inscription on a new building at Newark State College, Union, New Jersey (1912) as quoted in "The New York Times Book Review" (p. 55.), March 5, 1967.

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• A good teacher is like a candle - it consumes itself to light the way for others.

  Mustafa Kemal Ataturk

  Thank You, Appreciation, Teacher

  479 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”

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• The purpose of education is to replace an empty mind with an open one.

  Malcolm Forbes

  Inspirational, Education, Travel

  188 Copy quote

• 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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• 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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• The whole art of teaching is only the art of awakening the natural curiosity of young minds for the purpose of satisfying it afterwards.

  Anatole France

  Inspirational, Thank You, Education

  Anatole France (2015). “Delphi Complete Works of Anatole France (Illustrated)”, p.120, Delphi Classics

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

  Victor Hugo

  Education, Appreciation, Teacher

  105 Copy quote

• The art of teaching is the art of assisting discovery.

  Mark Van Doren

  Education, Appreciation, Teacher

  93 Copy quote