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 (1803–73) British Novelist, Poet, Politician
Teaching is not a lost art, but the regard for it is a lost tradition.
—Jacques Barzun (b.1907) American Cultural Historian, Philosopher
The world of knowledge takes a crazy turn when teachers themselves are taught to learn.
—Bertolt Brecht (1898–1956) German Poet, Playwright, Theater Personality
Those who educate children well are more to be honored than even their parents, for these only give them life, those the art of living well.
—Aristotle (384BCE–322BCE) Ancient Greek Philosopher, Scholar
Better than a thousand days of diligent study is one day with a great teacher.
—Japanese Proverb
The best teachers teach from the heart, not from the book.
—Indian Proverb
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
A high-school teacher, after all, is a person deputized by the rest of us to explain to the young what sort of world they are living in, and to defend, if possible, the part their elders are playing in it.
—Emile Capouya (1925–2005) American Essayist, Critic, Publisher
To teach is to learn twice.
—Joseph Joubert (1754–1824) French Writer, Moralist
Once more I would adopt the graver style—a teacher should be sparing of his smile.
—William Cowper (1731–1800) English Anglican Poet, Hymn writer
Good teaching is one-fourth preparation and three-fourths theater.
—Gail Godwin (b.1937) American Novelist, Short Story Writer
Everybody who is incapable of learning has taken to teaching.
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish Poet, Playwright
If you think in terms of a year, plant a seed; if in terms of ten years, plant trees; if in terms of 100 years, teach the people.
—Confucius (551–479 BCE) Chinese Philosopher
Woe to him who teaches men faster than they can learn.
—William C. Durant (1861–1947) American Industrialist
Whatever you teach, be brief; what is quickly said the mind readily receives and faithfully retains, while everything superfluous runs over as from a full container. Who knows much says least.
—Common Proverb
Teaching isn’t one-tenth as effective as training.
—Horace Mann (1796–1859) American Educator, Politician, Educationalist
Children should be led into the right paths, not by severity, but by persuasion.
—Terence (c.195–159 BCE) Roman Comic Dramatist
Don’t try to fix the students, fix ourselves first. The good teacher makes the poor student good and the good student superior. When our students fail, we, as teachers, too, have failed.
—Marva Collins (1936–2015) American Educator
First he wrought, and afterward he taught.
—Geoffrey Chaucer (1343–1400) English Poet, Philosopher, Diplomat, Bureaucrat
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
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
I cannot teach anybody anything, I can only make them think.
—Socrates (469BCE–399BCE) Ancient Greek Philosopher
Most subjects at universities are taught for no other purpose than that they may be re-taught when the students become teachers.
—Georg Christoph Lichtenberg (1742–99) German Philosopher, Physicist
In the education of children there is nothing like alluring the interest and affection, otherwise you only make so many asses laden with books.
—Michel de Montaigne (1533–92) French Essayist
Morality sticks faster when presented in brief sayings than when presented in long discourse.
—Karl Leberecht Immermann (1796–1840) German Novelist, Dramatist
We love the precepts for the teacher’s sake.
—George Farquhar (1677–1707) Irish Dramatist
Dogma is actually the only thing that cannot be separated from education. It IS education. A teacher who is not dogmatic is simply a teacher who is not teaching. There are no uneducated people; only most people are educated wrong. The true task of culture today is not a task of expansion, but of selection-and rejection. The educationist must find a creed and teach it.
—G. K. Chesterton (1874–1936) English Journalist, Novelist, Essayist, Poet
He who undertakes to be his own teacher has a fool for a pupil.
—German Proverb
No one ever teaches well who wants to teach, or governs well who wants to govern.
—Plato (428 BCE–347 BCE) Greek Philosopher, Mathematician, Educator
A schoolteacher or professor cannot educate individuals, he educates only species.
—Georg Christoph Lichtenberg (1742–99) German Philosopher, Physicist
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