Celebrating Educators and the Difference They Make in Our Lives

Educators are remarkable. The dedication and passion they bring to the classroom every day provides students the opportunity to learn, grow, and master the skills necessary to succeed in life.

Their tireless efforts make positive impacts in the lives of students and set a remarkable example for others to follow. From learning our ABCs to multiplication tables to English Literature and Advanced Algebra, educators lay the foundation upon which every student builds their future.

With the help of the Today Show, this collection of quotes celebrates, appreciates, inspires, and finds humor in all of the things educators do.

Funny teacher quotes

• “Education is what remains after one has forgotten everything he learned in school.” — Albert Einstein
• “Smart people learn from their mistakes. But the real sharp ones learn from the mistakes of others.” — Brandon Mull, “Fablehaven”
• “If they can make penicillin out of moldy bread, they can sure make something out of you.” — Muhammad Ali
• “If at first you don’t succeed, find out if the loser gets anything.” — William Lyon Phelps

• “Even if you’re on the right track, you will get run over if you just sit there.” — Will Rogers
• “A teacher’s job is to take a bunch of live wires and see that they are well-grounded.” — Darwin D. Martin
• “A teacher is a person who never says anything once.” — Howard Nemerov

Teacher appreciation:

• “A good teacher can inspire hope, ignite the imagination, and instill a love of learning.” — Brad Henry
• “When educating the minds of our youth, we must not forget to educate their hearts.” — Dalai Lama
• “Being able to help someone learn something is a talent.” — Margaret Riel
• “Those who know do. Those who understand, teach.” — Aristotle

• “They may forget what you said — but they will never forget how you made them feel.” — Carl Buehner
• “Intelligence plus character ― that is the goal of true education.” ― Martin Luther King Jr.

• “Teaching kids to count is fine but teaching them what counts is best.” — Bob Talbert
• “In learning you will teach, and in teaching you will learn.” — Phil Collins, “Son of Man”
• “The fact that you worry about being a good teacher means that you already are one.” — Jodi Picoult
• “There is no recipe to be a great teacher, that’s what is unique about them.” — Robert Sternberg

• “It is not what is poured into the student but what is planted that counts.” — E.P. Bertin
• “Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.” — Benjamin Franklin
• “Being a teacher is not what I do, it’s who I am.” — Jill Biden
• “If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.” — Wayne Dyer

• “The world is changed by your example not by your opinion.” — Paulo Coelho
• “Learning never exhausts the mind,” — Leonardo da Vinci
• “Let everything you do be done as if it makes a difference.” — William James

• “It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge.” — Albert Einstein
• “I touch the future. I teach.” — Christa McAuliffe
• “Most of us end up with no more than five or six people who remember us. Teachers have thousands of people who remember them for the rest of their lives.” — Andy Rooney

• “If you have to put someone on a pedestal, put teachers. They are society’s heroes.” — Guy Kawasaki

Inspirational teacher quotes

• “The best teachers are those who show you where to look, but don’t tell you what to see.” –Alexandra K. Trenfor
• “…good teachers are priceless. They inspire you, they entertain you, and you end up learning a ton even when you don’t know it.” — Nicholas Sparks, “Dear John”

• “What the teacher is, is more important than what he teaches.” — Karl A. Menninger
• “When you study great teachers … you will learn much more from their caring and hard work than from their style.” — William Glasser
• “Teaching is a calling too. And I’ve always thought that teachers in their way are holy — angels leading their flocks out of the darkness.” — Jeannette Walls, “Half Broke Horses”

• “What office is there which involves more responsibility, which requires more qualifications, and which ought, therefore, to be more honorable, than that of teaching?” — Harriet Martineau
• “I cannot teach anybody anything; I can only make them think.” — Socrates
• “Minds are like parachutes, they only function when they are open.” — James Dewar

• “I continue to believe that if children are given the necessary tools to succeed, they will succeed beyond their wildest dreams!” — David Vitter
• “Our children are the living messages we send to a future we will never see.” — Elijah Cummings
• “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” — Nelson Mandela
• “Wherever you find something extraordinary, you’ll find the fingerprints of a great teacher.” — Arne Duncan
• “Teachers have three loves: love of learning, love of learners, and the love of bringing the first two loves together.” — Scott Hayden