TEACHING QUOTES III

quotations about teaching

Don't tell us that the only way to teach a child is to spend too much of a year preparing him to fill out a few bubbles on a standardized test; we know that's not true.

BARACK OBAMA

National Education Association Speech, 2007

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And because founders of colleges do plant, and founders of lectures do water, it followeth well in order to speak of the defect which is in public lectures; namely, in the smallness, and meanness of the salary or reward which in most places is assigned unto them, whether they be lectures of arts, or of professions.

FRANCIS BACON

The Advancement of Learning

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Since human beings are highly adaptable it may be possible for an individual with any sort of competence to learn, in the end, according to any teaching strategy. But the experiments show, very clearly indeed, that the rate, quality and durability of learning is crucially dependent upon whether or not the teaching strategy is of a sort that suits the individual.

GORDON PASK

Learning Strategies and Individual Competence


Be versed in ancient lore, and familiarize yourself with the modern; then may you become teachers.

CONFUCIUS

The Wisdom of Confucius

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Ideal teachers are those who use themselves as bridges over which they invite their students to cross; then, having facilitated their crossing, joyfully collapse, encouraging them to create their own.

NIKOS KAZANTZAKIS

attributed, English Leadership Quarterly, 1991


If I were president? First thing I'd do is take care of the schoolteachers. I'm not saying we should start 'em out with six figures, but in some places they've got to be mother, father, brother, sister, and mentor. They're real important people. Let's give 'em a raise -- and attract the best people to the job.

CARMELLO ANTHONY

Esquire, January 2005

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Arrogance, pedantry, and dogmatism ... the occupational diseases of those who spend their lives directing the intellects of the young.

HENRY S. CANBY

Alma Mater


The teacher does not have to be, although he has to know: he is the mind imagining, not the executant.

WYNDHAM LEWIS

The Essential Wyndham Lewis

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First then, I lay down for a principle, that nobody at an University is to be taught the practice of any rule without the true and solid reason and demonstration of the same. Rules without demonstration must and ought to be taught to seamen, artisans, &c. as I have already said; and schools for such people are fit in seaports and trading towns; but it is far below the dignity of an University, which is designed for solid and true learning, to do this.

JOHN ARBUTHNOT

An Essay on the Usefulness of Mathematical Learning

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It is always the teacher who must learn the most ... or else nothing real has happened in the exchange.

KIM STANLEY ROBINSON

The Years of Rice and Salt


Learning is finding out what you already know. Doing is demonstrating that you know it. Teaching is reminding others that they know just as well as you. You are all learners, doers, teachers.

RICHARD BACH

Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah

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It is better to teach a few things perfectly than many things indifferently.

ANDRÉ MAUROIS

An Art of Living

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Deciding to teach is an indication you are interested in joining an engaging, worthwhile, and yet challenging profession. It is important to recognize that schools are a microcosm of society. Just as society has changed (i.e., technological advancements) and become more diverse, so too have schools, and they may be quite different from what you recall as a student.

GLADIS KERSAINT & DENISSE R. THOMPSON

"Advice on Making a Mid-Career Change to Teaching", Education Week, June 13, 2017


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

HENRY ADAMS

The Education of Henry Adams

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Teaching is the systematic inculcation of knowledge.

JOHN MILTON GREGORY

The Seven Laws of Teaching


History is philosophy teaching by examples.

THUCYDIDES

The History of the Peloponnesian War

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

AMOS BRONSON ALCOTT

"The Teacher", Orphic Sayings


Reflecting on my past teaching mistakes has made me more reflective about who I am. Sure, part of teaching is a performance, pretending to be in a better mood than I am some days, being patient even when I face personal struggles. But the real work of teaching involves making the world, and myself, knowable to students.

BENJAMIN DOXTDATOR

"My First-Nations Identity Feels More Like An Absence", NPR, May 30, 2017


Teaching is a performing art. It's part technique, part experience, part commitment to the mission a teacher takes on -- the growth and development of the kids with whom he or she meets for 185 or so days each year.

GEOFF JOHNSON

"Little advice goes a long way, even for teachers", Times Colonist, May 30, 2017


A teacher who loves learning earns the right and the ability to help others learn.

RUTH BEECHICK

An Easy Start in Arithmetic