The real difficulty, the difficulty which has baffled the sages of all times, is rather this: how can we make our teaching so potent in the motional life of man, that its influence should withstand the pressure of the elemental psychic forces in the individual?
—Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born Physicist
Whatever you would have your children become, strive to exhibit in your own lives and conversation.
—Lydia H. Sigourney (1791–1865) American Poetaster, Author
Everybody who is incapable of learning has taken to teaching.
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish Poet, Playwright
To believe in a child is to believe in the future. Through their aspirations they will save the world. With their combined knowledge the turbulent seas of hate and injustice will be calmed. They will champion the causes of life’s underdogs, forging a society without class discrimination. They will supply humanity with music and beauty as it has never known. They will endure. Towards these ends I pledge my life’s work. I will supply the children with tools and knowledge to overcome the obstacles. I will pass on the wisdom of my years and temper it with patience. I shall impact in each child the desire to fulfill his or her dream. I shall teach.
—Henry James (1843–1916) American-born British Novelist, Writer
The method of teaching which approaches most nearly to the method of investigation, is incomparably the best; since, not content with serving up a few barren and lifeless truths, it leads to the stock on which they grew.
—Edmund Burke (1729–97) British Philosopher, Statesman
To teach well, we need not say all that we know, Successful teachers are effective in spite of the psychological theories they suffer under.
—Common Proverb
Teaching is not a lost art, but the regard for it is a lost tradition.
—Jacques Barzun (b.1907) American Cultural Historian, Philosopher
Teachers open the door, but you must enter by yourself.
—Chinese Proverb
It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge.
—Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born Physicist
If ever I am an instructress, it will be to learn more than to teach.
—Dorothee Luzy Dotinville (1747–1830) French Dancer, Actress
Never offer to teach a fish to swim.
—Common Proverb
The one exclusive sign of a thorough knowledge is the power of teaching.
—Aristotle (384BCE–322BCE) Ancient Greek Philosopher, Scholar
What office is there which involves more responsibility, which requires more qualifications, and which ought, therefore, to be more honourable, than that of teaching?
—Harriet Martineau (1802–76) English Sociologist, Economist, Essayist, Philosopher
A master can tell you what he expects of you. A teacher, though, awakens your own expectations.
—Patricia Neal (1926–2010) American Stage, Movie Actress
The highest function of the teacher consists not so much in imparting knowledge as in stimulating the pupil in its love and pursuit.
—Unknown
You don’t have to be a “person of influence” to be influential. In fact, the most influential people in my life are probably not even aware of the things they’ve taught me.
—Scott Adams (b.1957) American Cartoonist
There have been periods when the country heard with dismay that “the soldier was abroad.” That is not the case now. Let the soldier be abroad; in the present age he can do nothing. Let the soldier be abroad if he will, he can do nothing in this age. There is another personage,—a personage less imposing in the eyes of some, perhaps insignificant. The schoolmaster is abroad, and I trust to him, armed with his primer, against the soldier in full military array, for upholding and extending the liberties of his country.
—Henry Brougham, 1st Baron Brougham and Vaux (1778–1868) Scottish Jurist, Politician
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 (b.1931) American Newscaster, Author
First he wrought, and afterward he taught.
—Geoffrey Chaucer (1343–1400) English Poet, Philosopher, Diplomat, Bureaucrat
If you give a man a fish, you feed him for a day.
If you teach a man how to fish, you feed him for a lifetime.
—Anne Isabella Thackeray Ritchie (1837–1919) English Novelist, Biographer
In teaching you cannot see the fruit of a day’s work. It is invisible and remains so, maybe for twenty years.
—Jacques Barzun (b.1907) American Cultural Historian, Philosopher
My object will be, if possible, to form Christian men, for Christian boys I can scarcely hope to make.
—Thomas Arnold (1795–1842) English Educationalist
Everywhere I go I’m asked if I think the university stifles writers. My opinion is that they don’t stifle enough of them. There’s many a bestseller that could have been prevented by a good teacher.
—Flannery O’Connor (1925–1964) American Novelist
To know how to suggest is the great art of teaching. To attain it we must be able to guess what will interest; we must learn to read the childish soul as we might a piece of music. Then, by simply changing the key, we keep up the attraction and vary the song.
—Henri Frederic Amiel (1821–81) Swiss Moral Philosopher, Poet, Critic
The first duty of a lecturer is to hand you after an hour’s discourse a nugget of pure truth to wrap up between the pages of your notebooks and keep on the mantelpiece forever.
—Virginia Woolf (1882–1941) English Novelist
Good teaching is one-fourth preparation and three-fourths theater.
—Gail Godwin (b.1937) American Novelist, Short Story Writer
Thoroughly to teach another is the best way to learn for yourself.
—Tryon Edwards (1809–94) American Theologian, Author
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 (b.1936) American Novelist, Aviator
I believe that the testing of the student’s achievements in order to see if he meets some criterion held by the teacher, is directly contrary to the implications of therapy for significant learning.
—Carl Rogers (1902–1987) American Psychologist
A good schoolmaster minces his precepts for children to swallow, hanging clogs on the nimbleness of his own soul, that his scholars may go along with him.
—Thomas Fuller (1608–61) English Cleric, Historian
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