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
A teacher’s purpose is not to create students in his own image, but to develop students who can create their own image.
—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
He who does not research has nothing to teach.
—Common Proverb
I’m not a teacher, but an awakener.
—Robert Frost (1874–1963) American Poet
It is easier for a tutor to command than to teach.
—John Locke (1632–1704) English Philosopher, Physician
To be good is noble, but to teach others how to be good is nobler and less trouble.
—Mark Twain (1835–1910) American Humorist
In teaching others we teach ourselves.
—Common Proverb
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
The man who can make hard things easy is the educator.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
A gifted teacher is as rare as a gifted doctor, and makes far less money.
—Unknown
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 (1799–1888) American Teacher, Writer, Philosopher
Lessons of wisdom have the most power over us when they capture the heart through the groundwork of a story, which engages the passions.
—Laurence Sterne (1713–68) Irish Anglican Novelist, Clergyman
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
Those who know how to think need no teachers.
—Mohandas K. Gandhi (1869–1948) Indian Hindu Political leader
Better than a thousand days of diligent study is one day with a great teacher.
—Japanese Proverb
He who undertakes to be his own teacher has a fool for a pupil.
—German Proverb
I swear… to hold my teacher in this art equal to my own parents; to make him partner in my livelihood; when he is in need of money to share mine with him; to consider his family as my own brothers and to teach them this art, if they want to learn it, without fee or indenture.
—Hippocrates (460–370 BCE) Ancient Greek Physician
To teach is to learn twice.
—Joseph Joubert (1754–1824) French Writer, Moralist
The teacher who is attempting to teach without inspiring the pupil with a desire to learn is hammering on cold iron.
—Horace Mann (1796–1859) American Educator, Politician, Educationalist
Why are we never quite at ease in the presence of a schoolmaster? Because we are conscious that he is not quite at his ease in ours. He is awkward, and out of place in the society of his equals. He comes like Gulliver from among his little people, and he cannot fit the stature of his understanding to yours.
—Charles Lamb (1775–1834) British Essayist, Poet
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
First he wrought, and afterward he taught.
—Geoffrey Chaucer (1343–1400) English Poet, Philosopher, Diplomat, Bureaucrat
No one ever teaches well who wants to teach, or governs well who wants to govern.
—Plato (428 BCE–347 BCE) Ancient Greek Philosopher, Mathematician, Educator
You can’t teach a hunter it’s wrong to kill.
—Baba Hari Dass (1923–2018) Indian-American Yogi, Hindu Monk
All practical teachers know that education is a patient process of mastery of details, minute by minute, hour by hour, day by day.
—Alfred North Whitehead (1861–1947) English Mathematician, Philosopher
Woe to him who teaches men faster than they can learn.
—William C. Durant (1861–1947) American Industrialist
Your Master Teacher knows all you need to learn, the perfect timing for your learning it, and the ideal way of teaching it to you. You don’t create a Master Teacher—that’s already been done. You discover your Master Teacher.
—Peter McWilliams (1949–2000) American Author, Activist
The teacher must derive not only the capacity, but the desire, to observe natural phenomena. In our system, she must become a passive, much more than an active, influence, and her passivity shall be composed of anxious scientific curiosity and of absolute respect for the phenomenon which she wishes to observe. The teacher must understand and feel her position of observer: the activity must lie in the phenomenon.
—Maria Montessori (1870–1952) Italian Physician, Educator
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