Sayings about Teaching & Teachers
By learning you will teach, by teaching you will learn. ~ Latin Proverbs
In teaching others we teach ourselves. ~ Traditional Proverb
Who God does not teach, man cannot. ~ Gaelic Proverb
Love teaches even asses to dance. ~ French Proverbs
He who flatters me is my enemy, who blames me is my teacher. ~ Chinese Proverbs
To teach well, we need not say all that we know, Successful teachers are effective in spite of the psychological theories they suffer under. ~ Traditional Proverb
A wise teacher makes learning a joy. ~ Traditional Proverb
If the pupil is smart, the teacher gets the credit. ~ Yiddish Proverb
Teach thy tongue to say, “I do not know “. ~ Hebrew Proverb
The work will teach you how to do it. ~ Estonian Proverbs
He who undertakes to be his own teacher has a fool for a pupil. ~ German Proverbs
Water quenches the thirst but does not teach you how to sing. ~ German Proverb
The fault of another is a good teacher. ~ German Proverb
Hold your children with your heart but teach them with your hands. ~ Russian Proverbs
Need teaches a plan. ~ Irish Proverbs
Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime. ~ Chinese Proverb
Eggs cannot teach a hen. ~ Russian Proverb
When God wants to punish an idiot, He teaches them a few words of Hebrew. ~ Yiddish Proverb
The mistakes of others are good teachers. ~ Estonian Proverb
He who does not research has nothing to teach. ~ Traditional Proverb
Experience is the best teacher. ~ Traditional Proverb
Falling teaches us to walk safely. ~ Dutch Proverbs
Better untaught than ill taught. ~ Italian Proverbs
Teaching in youth is like carving in stone. ~ Moroccan 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. ~ Traditional Proverb
The world teaches you more than your supervisor. ~ Maltese Proverbs
Diligence is a great teacher. ~ Arabian Proverbs
The chicken sings what the rooster teaches him. ~ French Proverb
Teachers open the door, but you must enter by yourself.~ Chinese Proverb
One may teach another to speak, but none can teach another to hold his peace. ~ Polish Proverbs
It’s not the fault of the parrot, but of the one who teaches him to talk. ~ Guatemalan Proverbs
To do nothing teaches evil. ~ Dutch Proverb
Experience is the teacher of jesters and the intelligence of the wise. ~ German Proverb
In a place without dogs they teach the cats to bark. ~ Georgian Proverbs
He who does not teach his son a trade teaches him to steal. ~ Hebrew Proverb
It is difficult to teach a cow to climb a tree. ~ Lithuanian Proverbs
Teachers die, but books live on. ~ Dutch Proverb
The strictness of the teacher is better to bear than the prejudice of the father. ~ Iranian Proverbs
The one who teaches is the giver of eyes. ~ Tamil Proverb
Who gives to me, teaches me to give. ~ Dutch Proverb
The world is a good teacher, but it charges a huge fee. ~ Finnish Proverbs
Marriage teaches you to live alone. ~ French Proverb
The young cannot teach tradition to the old. ~ Beninese Proverb
Teach your son in the front garden and your wife on the pillow. ~ Chinese Proverb
You know, you teach. You do not know, you learn. ~ Lao Proverb
Once it was the parents who taught their children to talk; now the children teach their parents to keep quiet. ~ Yiddish Proverb
You can’t teach old dog new tricks. ~ Traditional Proverb
Necessity is a great teacher. ~ Mexican Proverb
No need to teach an eagle to fly. ~ Greek Proverb
Quotations about Teaching
The object of teaching a child is to enable him to get along without his teacher. ~ Elbert Hubbard
Adversity is a great teacher, but this teacher makes us pay dearly for its instruction; and often the profit we derive, is not worth the price we paid.~ Jean Jacques Rousseau
The whole art of teaching is only the art of awakening the natural curiosity of young minds for the purpose of satisfying it afterwards. ~ Anatole France
The key to fixing education is better teaching, and the key to better teaching is figuring out who can teach and who can’t. ~ Jonathan Alter
Teaching is leaving a vestige of oneself in the development of another. And surely the student is a bank where you can deposit your most precious treasures. ~ Eugene P. Bertin
A teacher is one who makes himself progressively unnecessary. ~ Thomas Carruthers
Teaching is the greatest act of optimism. ~ Colleen Wilcox
Those who know how to think need no teachers. ~ Mahatma Gandhi
Prosperity is a great teacher; adversity is a greater. Possession pampers the mind; privation trains and strengthens it.~ William Hazlitt
None can teach admirably if not loving his task. ~ Amos Bronson Alcott
Teach the art of living well. ~ Seneca
You teach best what you most need to learn. ~ Richard Bach
You can teach a student a lesson for a day; but if you can teach him to learn by creating curiosity, he will continue the learning process as long as he lives. ~ Clay P. Bedford
Life is amazing: and the teacher had better prepare himself to be a medium for that amazement. ~ Edward Blishen
A true teacher defends his students against his own personal influences.~ Amos Bronson Alcott
Every truth has four corners: as a teacher I give you one corner, and it is for you to find the other three.~ Confucius
A good teacher is a determined person. ~ Gilbert Highet
It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge.~ Albert Einstein
Success is a lousy teacher. It seduces smart people into thinking they can’t lose.~ Bill Gates
The art of teaching is the art of assisting discovery. ~ Mark Van Doren
Ask yourself: ‘Do I feel the need to laminate?’ Then teaching is for you. ~ Gordon Korman
What the teacher is, is more important than what he teaches. ~ Karl Menninger
The things taught in schools and colleges are not an education, but the means of education. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
Teaching is only demonstrating that it is possible. Learning is making it possible for yourself. ~ Paulo Coelho
A good teacher is like a candle – it consumes itself to light the way for others. ~ Mustafa Kemal Atatürk
Fear is not a good teacher. The lessons of fear are quickly forgotten.~ Mary Bateson
Teaching isn’t one-tenth as effective as training. ~ Horace Mann
Teacher appreciation makes the world of education go around. ~ Helen Peters
Good teaching must be slow enough so that it is not confusing, and fast enough so that it is not boring. ~ Sydney J. Harris
The greatest sign of a success for a teacher…is to be able to say, “The children are now working as if I did not exist.” ~ Maria Montessori
First let a man teach himself, and then he will be taught by others. ~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
The task of the excellent teacher is to stimulate “apparently ordinary” people to unusual effort. The tough problem is not in identifying winners: it is in making winners out of ordinary people. ~K. Patricia Cross
The teacher who is indeed wise does not bid you to enter the house of his wisdom but rather leads you to the threshold of your mind. ~ Khalil Gibran
the one exclusive sign of a thorough knowledge is the power of teaching. ~ Aristotle
The teacher is one who makes two ideas grow where only one grew before. ~ Elbert Hubbard
In the practice of tolerance, one’s enemy is the best teacher. ~ Dalai Lama
To teach is to learn twice. ~ Joseph Joubert
The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires.~ William A. Ward
In learning you will teach, and in teaching you will learn. ~ Phil Collins
The mistakes of others are good teachers. ~ Estonian Proverb
The teacher gives not of his wisdom, but rather of his faith and lovingness.~ Kahlil Gibran
What do you think of God, the teacher asked. After a pause, the young pupil replied, “He’s not a think, he’s a feel.” ~ Paul Frost
Come into the light of things. Let nature be your teacher.~ William Wordsworth
I am not a teacher: only a fellow-traveler of whom you asked the way. I pointed ahead–ahead of myself as well as you. ~ George Bernard Shaw
Any teacher that can be replaced by a machine should be! ~ Arthur c. Clarke
He who can, does. He who cannot, teaches. ~ George Bernard Shaw
Everybody who is incapable of learning has taken to teaching. ~ Oscar Wilde
A good teacher must know the rules; a good pupil, the exceptions. ~ Martin H. Fischer
Teaching is one of the noblest of professions. It requires an adequate preparation and training, patience, devotion, and a deep sense of responsibility.. ~ Calvin Coolidge
A teacher’s job is to take a bunch of live wires and see that they are well-grounded. ~ D. Martin
The world teaches you more than your supervisor. ~ Maltese Proverb
Unless we do his teachings, we do not demonstrate faith in him. ~ Ezra Taft Benson
There is no real teacher who in practice does not believe in the existence of the soul, or in a magic that acts on it through speech.~ Allan Bloom
Teaching is reminding others that they know just as well as you. You are all learners, doers, and teachers. ~ Richard Bach
You cannot teach a man anything; you can only help him to find it within himself. ~ Galilei Galileo
A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops. ~ Henry Brooks Adams
A teacher must believe in the value and interest of his subject as a doctor believes in health. ~ Gilbert Highet
It is not possible for one to teach others who cannot teach his own family. ~ Confucius
Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn. ~ Benjamin Franklin
Teaching is not a lost art, but the regard for it is a lost tradition. ~Jacques Barzun
Teaching may be compared to selling commodities. No one can sell unless somebody buys. ~ John Dewey
A good teacher is a master of simplification and an enemy of simplism. ~ Louis A. Berman
A schoolteacher or professor cannot educate individuals, he educates only species. ~ Georg C. Lichtenberg
Creative activity could be described as a type of learning process where teacher and pupil are located in the same individual.~ Arthur Koestler
Good teachers are costly, but bad teachers cost more. ~ Bob Talbert
Love is a better teacher than duty.~ Albert Einstein
I am not a teacher, but an awakener ~ Robert Frost
Time is a great teacher, but unfortunately it kills all its pupils.~ Hector Louis Berlioz
Teachers have three loves: love of learning, love of learners, and the love of bringing the first two loves together. ~ Scott Hayden
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
Experience is a good teacher, but she sends in terrific bills.~ Minna Antrim
Teachers are expected to reach unattainable goals with inadequate tools. The miracle is that at times they accomplish this impossible task. ~ Haim G. Ginott
Kids don’t remember what you try to teach them. They remember what you are. ~ Jim Henson
True teaching liberates the student from his teacher.~ Ernest Holmes
A master can tell you what he expects of you. A teacher, though, awakens your own expectations.~ Patricia Neal
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
I am indebted to my father for living, but to my teacher for living well. ~ Alexander the Great
Everyone and everything around you is your teacher.~ Ken Keyes Jr.
It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge.~ Albert Einstein
Who dares to teach must never cease to learn. ~ John Cotton Dana
I cannot teach anybody anything, I can only make them think. ~ Socrates
Treat people as if they were what they ought to be and you help them become what they are capable of becoming. ~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
The true aim of everyone who aspires to be a teacher should be, not to impart his own opinions, but to kindle minds.~ Frederick W. Robertson
A teacher who is not dogmatic is simply a teacher who is not teaching.~ Gilbert K. Chesterton
Woe to him who teaches men faster than they can learn. ~ William J. Durant
if you have forgotten how to be a child you cannot teach children. ~ Austin o’malley
To be good is noble, but to teach others how to be good is nobler and less trouble. ~ Mark Twain
Fear is not a lasting teacher of duty.~ Marcus T. Cicero
Once more I would adopt the graver style — a teacher should be sparing of his smile.~ William Cowper
When teaching, light a fire, don’t fill a bucket. ~ Dan Snow
If the past cannot teach the present and the father cannot teach the son, then history need not have bothered to go on, and the world has wasted a great deal of time. ~ Russell Hoban
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
A teacher should have maximal authority, and minimal power. ~ Thomas Szasz
Good teaching is one-fourth preparation and three-fourths theater. ~Gail Godwin
Teaching is of more importance than urging. ~ Martin Luther
In teaching you cannot see the fruit of a day’s work. It is invisible and remains so, maybe for twenty years. ~ Jacques Barzun
If we teach today’s students as we taught yesterday’s, we rob them of tomorrow. ~ John Dewey
The teacher is like the candle which lights others in consuming itself. ~ Giovanni Ruffini
Teachers who educate children deserve more honor than parents who merely gave birth; for bare life is furnished by the one, the other ensures a good life.~ Aristotle
Acquire new knowledge whilst thinking over the old, and you may become a teacher of others.~ Confucius
In a completely rational society, the best of us would be teachers and the rest of us would have to settle for something else. ~ Lee Iacocca
Your enemy can be your greatest teacher.~ Buddha
We never completely escape the teachers of our childhood nor any of the patterns that formed us. ~ Frank Herbert
A teacher who is attempting to teach without inspiring the pupil with a desire to learn is hammering on a cold iron.~ Horace Mann
When you study great teachers… you will learn much more from their caring and hard work than from their style. ~ William Glasser
The evil of people can come from their like of being teachers of others. ~ Mencius Mengzi Meng-tse
Instructors should not only be skilful in those sciences which they teach, but have skill in the method of teaching, and patience in the practice. ~ Isaac Watts
The world of knowledge takes a crazy turn when teachers themselves are taught to learn. ~ Bertolt Brecht
Experience is the worst teacher; it gives the test before presenting the lesson.~ Vernon S. Law
No one ever teaches well who wants to teach, or governs well who wants to govern. ~ Plato
What Teachers Need to Know about Teaching Methods. ~ Book preview
More Quotes About Teaching
- Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire. ~ W.B. Yeats, Irish poet
- Teaching is the highest form of understanding. ~ Aristotle, Greek philosopher
- The best teacher is the one who suggests rather than dogmatizes and inspires his listener with the wish to teach himself. ~ Edward Bulwer-Lytton, British writer
- Good teaching is more a giving of right questions than a giving of right answers. ~ Josef Albers, German artist
- The teacher is the one who gets the most out of the lessons, and the true teacher is the learner. ~ Elbert Hubbard, American writer
- A true teacher would never tell you what to do. But he would give you the knowledge with which you could decide what would be best for you to do. ~ Christopher Reeve, American actor
- Teachers who inspire realize there will always be rocks in the road ahead of us. They will be stumbling blocks or stepping stones; it all depends on how we use them. ~ Anonymous
- A teacher is a person who never says anything once. ~ Howard Nemerov, American poet
- The greatest good you can do for another is not just share your riches, but to reveal to him his own. ~ Benjamin Disraeli, British politician
- A good teacher, like a good entertainer, first must hold his audience’s attention, then he can teach his lesson. ~ John Henrik Clarke, American historian and writer
- The task of the modern educator is not to cut down jungles, but to irrigate deserts. ~ C.S. Lewis, British writer
- The teacher’s task is to initiate the learning process and then get out of the way. ~ John Warren, American educator
- The aim of education should be to teach us rather how to think, than what to think—rather to improve our minds, so as to enable us to think for ourselves, than to load
- Teachers affect eternity; no one can tell where their influence stops. ~ Henry Adams, American historian
- One child, one teacher, one book, one pen can change the world. ~ Malala Yousafzai, Pakistani activist and Nobel laureate
- In teaching, you cannot see the fruit of a day’s work. It is invisible and remains so, maybe for twenty years. ~ Jacques Barzun, French-American historian
- Teachers can change lives with just the right mix of chalk and challenges. ~ Joyce Meyer, American author and speaker
- The best teachers are those who show you where to look, but don’t tell you what to see. ~ Alexandra K. Trenfor, American writer and teacher
- Teaching kids to count is fine, but teaching them what counts is best. ~ Bob Talbert, American journalist
- Teachers who love teaching, teach children to love learning. ~ Robert John Meehan, American educator
- Teachers need to be comfortable with not knowing something and taking risks in front of students. ~ Heidi Hayes Jacobs, American author and educator.
- The only true way to learn is to absorb what you’re studying by teaching it to others. ~ Anonymous.
- The best teacher is experience and not through someone’s distorted point of view. ~ Jack Kerouac, American novelist.
- Teaching is a very noble profession that shapes the character, caliber, and future of an individual. ~ A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, Indian scientist and politician.
- Education is not preparation for life; education is life itself. ~ John Dewey, American philosopher and psychologist.
- The teacher who loves learning earns the right and the ability to help others learn. ~ Ruth Beechick, American educator.
- Teaching is the profession that teaches all the other professions. ~ Anonymous.