30 INSPIRATIONAL QUOTATIONS EVERY EDUCATOR SHOULD LIVE BY

Teaching is indeed a demanding job. I know, right? So, here’s a genie sharing you 30 of the most inspirational quotations you should live by to keep that fire within you burning.

(Scroll down until the end of this article to see my personal favorites.)

1. “If a child can’t learn the way we teach, maybe we should teach the way they learn.” – Ignacio Estrada

2. “The best teachers are those that show you where to look but don’t tell you what to see.” – Alexandra K. Trenfor

3. “It is better to know how to learn than to know.” – Dr. Seuss

4. “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” — Maya Angelou

5. “Teaching kids to count is fine, but teaching them what counts is best.” – Bob Talbert

6. “Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.” – Albert Einstein

7. “If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up people together to collect wood and don’t assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea.” – Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

8. “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” — Thomas Edison

9. “Students don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.” – Anonymous

10. “A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way and shows the way.” – John Maxwell

11. “Criticism is more effective when it sounds like praise.” – Arnold Glasow

12. “If the only thing one of my students learns today is that they’re loved, I’m okay with that.” –Trevor Taylor

13. “Teachers should guide without dictating, and participate without dominating.” – C. B. Neblette

14. “Education must enable one to sift and weigh evidence, to discern the true from the false, the real from the unreal, and the facts from the fiction.” – Martin Luther King Jr.

15. “If we teach today’s students as we taught yesterday’s, we rob them of tomorrow.” – John Dewey

16. “The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires.” – William Ward

17. “Let us remember: one book, one pen, one child and one teacher can change the world.” — Malala Yousafzai

18. “If you are planning for a year, sow rice; if you are planning for a decade, plant trees; if you are planning for a lifetime, educate people.” – Chinese Proverb

19. “The eye sees only what the mind is prepared to comprehend.” – Henri Bergson

20. “I like a teacher who gives you something to take home to think about besides homework.” – Lily Tomlin

21. “When a flower doesn’t bloom, you fix the environment in which it grows, not the flower.” – Alexander Den Heijer

22. “Never forget, you don’t teach English, Math, Science, etc., you teach students.” – Tavia Clark

23. “All of us do not have equal talent, but all of us should have an equal opportunity to develop our talent.” – John F. Kennedy

24. “The meaning of life is to find your gift. The purpose of life is to give it away.” — Pablo Picasso

25. “Educating the mind without educating the heart is no education at all.” – Aristotle

26. “Beg, borrow and steal from good teachers. In other words, don’t reinvent the wheel; use things that are working for others.” – Katie Wright

27. “A mind is a fire to be kindled, not a vessel to be filled.” – Plutarch

28. “Do not confine your children to your own learning, for they were born in another time.” – Chinese Proverb

29. “I cannot teach anybody anything, I can only make them think.” – Socrates

30. “Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new.” – Albert Einstein

Personal Favorites:

I find these three quotations, which I personally love, worth sharing. They are from the movie "The Three Idiots" by Rajkumar Hirani.

“Whatever you enjoy doing, make that your profession. Then work won’t seem to be work, but a game.” – Farhan quote Rancho

“Never study to be successful, study for self-efficiency. Don’t run behind success. Follow behind excellence, success will come all way behind you.” – Rancho

“And this is a college, not a pressure cooker! The lion in a circus learns that he needs to sit on the chair if his owner has a whip in his hand. But that lion is called well-trained, not well-educated.” – Rancho

How about you? What's your favorite quote? If you know a quotation that you think every educator should live by, feel free to share it with us on the comments section. Share the love! <3