Quotes about teachers
page 8

Seymour Papert photo
Alice Moore Hubbard photo
Peter L. Berger photo
George Long photo
John Oliver photo

“As far as I can see, this is a system that has enriched multiple companies and that pays and fires teachers with a cattle birthing formula, confuses children with talking pineapples, and has the same kind of rules regarding transparency as Brad Pitt had for Fight Club.”

John Oliver (1977) English comedian

Last Week Tonight: Standardized Testing https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6lyURyVz7k Last Week Tonight: Standardized Testing (3 May 2015)
Last Week Tonight (2014–present)

Newton Lee photo
Dejan Stojanovic photo

“For a game, you don’t need a teacher.”

Dejan Stojanovic (1959) poet, writer, and businessman

“Game III,” p. 98
The Sun Watches the Sun (1999), Sequence: “A Game”

John Cage photo

“I can't speak or write German, but I'am overjoyed because I have bought one of your pictures. Now it is in me. I write music. You are my teacher.”

John Cage (1912–1992) American avant-garde composer

Quote from his letter to Jawlensky, early Februari 1935; as cited in 'The shape of the Future 3: Art' in Where the Heart Beats: John Cage, Zen Buddhism, and the Inner Life of Artists, by Kay Larson, Penguin 2012, p. unknown
Cage bought one of the small 'Head' paintings of Jawlensky, via his art-agent Galka E. Scheyer who showed Cage some paintings of Jawlensky early 1935, and sold his choice very cheap for 25 dollars; Cage was then 25 years old and strongly inspired by images, as he told Scheyer and wrote Jawlensky
1930s

Georg Brandes photo
Julian (emperor) photo

“I feel awe of the gods, I love, I revere, I venerate them, and in short have precisely the same feelings towards them as one would have towards kind masters or teachers or fathers or guardians or any beings of that sort.”

Julian (emperor) (331–363) Roman Emperor, philosopher and writer

"To the Cynic Heracleios" in The Works of the Emperor Julian (1913) edited by W. Heinemann, Vol. II, p. 93
General sources

Martin Luther King, Jr. photo
Ela Bhatt photo

“Teachers do not care…It is not because teachers are badly paid and the teachers are organized but they do not teach. If we don’t respect them it is because we see them doing other business than teaching.”

Ela Bhatt (1933) founder of the Self-Employed Women's Association of India (SEWA)

On the low social regard for teachers.[Ghate, Chetan title=The Oxford Handbook of the Indian Economy, http://books.google.com/books?id=kPYXpHSVbywC&pg=PA373, 13 March 2012, Oxford University Press, 978-0-19-973458-0, 373–]

Menno Simons photo
Benjamin Ricketson Tucker photo
Paulo Freire photo

“Through dialogue, the teacher-of-the-students and the students-of-the-teacher cease to exist and a new term emerges: teacher-student with students-teachers.”

Paulo Freire (1921–1997) educator and philosopher

Source: Pedagogia do oprimido (Pedagogy of the Oppressed) (1968, English trans. 1970), Chapter 2

Gyles Brandreth photo

“The Brahmans who were custodians of the idols and idol-houses, and “teachers of the infidels”, also received their share of attention from the soldiers of Allãh. Our citations contain only stray references to the Brahmans because they have been compiled primarily with reference to the destruction of temples. Even so, they provide the broad contours of another chapter in the history of medieval India, a chapter which has yet to be brought out in full. The Brahmans are referred to as magicians by some Islamic invaders and massacred straight away. Elsewhere, the Hindus who are not totally defeated and want to surrender on some terms, are made to sign a treaty saying that the Brahmans will be expelled from the temples. The holy cities of the Hindus were “the nests of the Brahmans” who had to be slaughtered before or after the destruction of temples, so that these places were “cleansed” completely of “kufr” and made fit as “abodes of Islam”. Amîr Khusrû describes with great glee how the heads of Brahmans “danced from their necks and fell to the ground at their feet”, along with those of the other “infidels” whom Malik Kãfûr had slaughtered during the sack of the temples at Chidambaram. Fîrûz Shãh Tughlaq got bags full of cow’s flesh tied round the necks of Brahmans and had them paraded through his army camp at Kangra. Muhmûd Shãh II Bahmanî bestowed on himself the honour of being a ghãzî, simply because he had killed in cold blood the helpless BrãhmaNa priests of the local temple after Hindu warriors had died fighting in defence of the fort at Kondapalli. The present-day progressives, leftists and dalits whose main plank is anti-Brahminism have no reason to feel innovative about their ideology. Anti-Brahminism in India is as old a the advent of Islam. Our present-day Brahmin-baiters are no more than ideological descendants of the Islamic invaders. Hindus will do well to remember Mahatma Gandhi’s deep reflection--“if Brahmanism does not revive, Hinduism must perish.””

Sita Ram Goel (1921–2003) Indian activist

Hindu Temples – What Happened to Them, Volume II (1993)

Neil deGrasse Tyson photo

“People cited violation of the First Amendment when a New Jersey schoolteacher asserted that evolution and the Big Bang are not scientific and that Noah's ark carried dinosaurs. This case is not about the need to separate church and state; it's about the need to separate ignorant, scientifically illiterate people from the ranks of teachers.”

Neil deGrasse Tyson (1958) American astrophysicist and science communicator

Letter to the Editor, New York Times, December 21, 2006, 2010-12-07 http://www.haydenplanetarium.org/tyson/read/2006/12/21/a-teacher-a-student-and-a-church-state-dispute,
2000s

Frances Farmer photo
Mortimer J. Adler photo
Madonna photo

“Phallic symbols. You know Catholics. I used to draw people naked all the time in my art class and my nun teachers used to tell me I had to put clothes on them. So I just drew lines around their bodies. See-through clothes.”

Madonna (1958) American singer, songwriter, and actress

Madonna Interview : Island Magazine (October 1983), Island, 1983-10-01 http://allaboutmadonna.com/madonna-library/madonna-interview-island-magazine-october-1983,
(When asked what she used to draw as a kid).

Daniel Defoe photo

“We loved the doctrine for the teacher's sake.”

Daniel Defoe (1660–1731) English trader, writer and journalist

The Character of the Late Dr. S. Annesly (1697).

“Flash Teacher: How to spot: He'll be the only member of staff who drives a customized Lada.”

Peter Corey (1946) British writer

Coping With series, Coping With Teachers (1991)

Yehudi Menuhin photo

“The best teacher is the one who himself has had to struggle to learn.”

Yehudi Menuhin (1916–1999) American violinist and conductor

Violinist Yehudi Menuhin

Ignatius Sancho photo
Louis Althusser photo
Paula Modersohn-Becker photo
Warren Farrell photo
Arthur C. Clarke photo

“Any teacher that can be replaced by a machine should be!”

Arthur C. Clarke (1917–2008) British science fiction writer, science writer, inventor, undersea explorer, and television series host

Electronic Tutors (1980)
1980s

James K. Morrow photo
Mao Zedong photo
Camille Paglia photo
Dave Sim photo
Robin Lane Fox photo
Piet Mondrian photo
Harvey Fierstein photo
H.L. Mencken photo
Howard Zinn photo
Fred Thompson photo
Konstantin Chernenko photo
Karen Pence photo

“One of the things near and dear to me is art therapy. Even as an art teacher and someone very involved in the arts, I never knew what art therapy even was. These men and women go to graduate school and they actually are therapists that use art, especially at Riley, they’re making such a difference, so I’m looking forward to that.”

Karen Pence (1958) First Lady of Indiana, schoolteacher

Karen Pence focuses on moving family forward amid hoopla http://www.indystar.com/story/news/politics/2017/01/20/karen-pence-focuses-moving-family-forward-amid-hoopla/96828962/ (January 20, 2017)

Hillary Clinton photo

“Every child deserves a good teacher in a good school, regardless of the zip code that they live in.”

Hillary Clinton (1947) American politician, senator, Secretary of State, First Lady

Presidential campaign (April 12, 2015 – 2016), Democratic Presidential Debate in Miami (March 9, 2016)

W.E.B. Du Bois photo
Karl Popper photo

“I think so badly of philosophy that I don't like to talk about it. … I do not want to say anything bad about my dear colleagues, but the profession of teacher of philosophy is a ridiculous one. We don't need a thousand of trained, and badly trained, philosophers — it is very silly. Actually most of them have nothing to say.”

Karl Popper (1902–1994) Austrian-British philosopher of science

As quoted in "At 90, and Still Dynamic : Revisiting Sir Karl Popper and Attending His Birthday Party" by Eugene Yue-Ching Ho, in Intellectus 23 (Jul-Sep 1992)

Sinclair Lewis photo
B.F. Skinner photo
Ernesto Che Guevara photo
Sinclair Lewis photo
Trent Lott photo
Ray Comfort photo
K. Pattabhi Jois photo
John Heyl Vincent photo

“To live a godly life is the best way to light up a lesson that the teacher can possibly employ.”

John Heyl Vincent (1832–1920) American theologian

Source: Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), p. 572.

Paul von Hindenburg photo

“Recently, a whole series of cases has been reported to me in which judges, lawyers, and officials of the Judiciary who are disabled war veterans and whose record in office is flawless, have been forcibly sent on leave, and are later to be dismissed for the sole reason that they are of Jewish descent.
It is quite intolerable for me personally…that Jewish officials who were disabled in the war should suffer such treatment, [especially] as, with the express approval of the government, I addressed a Proclamation to the German people on the day of the national uprising, March 21st, in which I bowed in reverence before the dead of the war and remembered in gratitude the bereaved families of the war dead, the disabled, and my old comrades at the front.
I am certain, Mr. Chancellor, that you share this human feeling, and request you, most cordially and urgently, to look into this matter yourself, and to see to it that there is some uniform arrangement for all branches of the public service in Germany.
As far as my own feelings are concerned, officials, judges, teachers and lawyers who are war invalids, fought at the front, are sons of war dead, or themselves lost sons in the war should remain in their positions unless an individual case gives reason for different treatment. If they were worthy of fighting for Germany and bleeding for Germany, then they must also be considered worthy of continuing to serve the Fatherland in their professions.”

Paul von Hindenburg (1847–1934) Prussian-German field marshal, statesman, and president of Germany

Letter to Chancellor Adolf Hitler http://alphahistory.com/nazigermany/hindenburg-and-hitler-on-jewish-war-veterans/, (April 4th 1933)
President

Christie Brinkley photo
Tommy Robinson photo

“Scientific language that is correct and serious so far as teachers and students are concerned must follow these stylistic norms:
# Be as verbally explicit and universal as possible…. The effect is to make `proper' scientific statements seem to talk only about an unchanging universal realm….
# Avoid colloquial forms of language and use, even in speech, forms close to those of written language. Certain words mark language as colloquial…, as does use of first and second person…
# Use technical terms in place of colloquial synonyms or paraphrases….
# Avoid personification and use of specifically or usually human attributes or qualities…, human agents or actors, and human types of action or process…
# Avoid metaphoric and figurative language, especially those using emotional, colorful, or value laden words, hyperboles and exaggeration, irony, and humorous or comic expressions.
# Be serious and dignified in all expression of scientific content. Avoid sensationalism.
# Avoid personalities and reference to individual human beings and their actions, including (for the most part) historical figures and events….
# Avoid reference to fiction or fantasy.
# Use causal forms of explanation and avoid narrative and dramatic accounts…. Similarly forbidden are dramatic forms, including dialogue, the development of suspense or mystery, the element of surprise, dramatic action, and so on.”

Jay Lemke (1946) American academic

Source: Talking Science: Language, Learning, and Values. 1990, p. 133-134, as cited in: Mary U. Hanrahan, "Applying CDA to the analysis of productive hybrid discourses in science classrooms." (2002).

Andrew Gelman photo
Richard Rodríguez photo
Erica Jong photo
Alain de Botton photo

“Only he is the true teacher [Satguru] who can show what are the religious and social obligations [dharma], show God to you, and give you the Knowledge of the holy name [sat nam]. And he who can give you the Knowledge of this dharma is completely wise. Satguru is the one who has the perfect wisdom. And other than the Satguru no one has the perfect wisdom. Oh! People of the world! Only a perfect avatar with the sixty-four virtues [kala] can reveal this Knowledge.”

Hans Ji Maharaj (1900–1966) Indian guru

Bombay, March 1966
Alternative translation: "Lord Rama was an incarnation of God who possessed 14 types of divine power. Lord Krishna was an incarnation of God who possessed 26 types of divine power. But I am fully perfect and the master of all the 64 divine powers."
This alternative translation, very different from the original Hindi, appeared in a book named Satgurudev (1970). It has been used by several scholars (Messer, Glock and Bellah; Reender Kranenborg) to position Hans Ji Maharaj as claiming to be more powerful than Krishna.
Source: Gupta, Mahendra. Hans Puran, (1969) New Delhi

Bel Kaufmanová photo
Isocrates photo
Paulo Freire photo

“Education must begin with the solution of the teacher-student contradiction, by reconciling the poles of the contradiction so that both are simultaneously teachers and students.”

Paulo Freire (1921–1997) educator and philosopher

Source: Pedagogia do oprimido (Pedagogy of the Oppressed) (1968, English trans. 1970), Chapter 2

“Teachers should prepare the student for the student's future, not for the teacher's past.”

Richard Hamming (1915–1998) American mathematician and information theorist

Preface
The Art of Doing Science and Engineering: Learning to Learn (1991)

Neil deGrasse Tyson photo
José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero photo

“Every time a teacher leaves her classroom in Paris to put up osters of Ségolène France is illuminated.”

José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero (1960) Former Prime Minister of Spain

"Ségolène represents personal energy, good spirits and optimism, the determination to preside, the vocation to get things done instead of talking about it; as we have done in Spain."
"Today, the grandeur of a country is measured by the extent to which it defends and extends its citizens' rights through its impulse towards total equality, by its capacity to create energy that contributes towards cultural, social and economic growth. That is how a country becomes strong, by making its citizens more powerful."
In a meeting of the French Socialist Party in Toulouse at the end of the electoral campaign for the first round of presidential voting, to help Ségolène Royal, 19th April 2007.
As President, 2007
Source: La Rioja http://www.larioja.com/prensa/20070420/mundo/zapatero-apoya-segolene-ofrece_20070420.html (Spanish).

Edith Stein photo
Derren Brown photo
Louise Bourgeois photo

“I became aware of Louise Bourgeois in my first or second year at Brighton Art College. One of my teachers, Stuart Morgan, curated a small retrospective of her work at the Serpentine, and both he and another teacher, Edward Allington, saw something in her, and me, and thought I should be aware of her. I thought the work was wonderful. It was her very early pieces, The Blind Leading the Blind, the wooden pieces and some of the later bronze works. Biographically, I don't really think she has influenced me, but I think there are similarities in our work. We have both used the home as a kind of kick-off point, as the space that starts the thoughts of a body of work. I eventually got to meet Louise in New York, soon after I made House. She asked to see me because she had seen a picture of House in the New York Times while she was ironing it one morning, so she said. She was wonderful and slightly kind of nutty; very interested and eccentric. She drew the whole time; it was very much a salon with me there as her audience, watching her. I remember her remarking that I was shorter than she was. I don't know if this was true but she was commenting on the physicality of making such big work and us being relatively small women. When you meet her you don't know what's true, because she makes things up. She has spun her web and drawn people in, and eaten a few people along the way.”

Louise Bourgeois (1911–2010) American and French sculptor

Rachel Whiteread, " Kisses for Spiderwoman http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2007/oct/14/art2," The Guardian, 14 Oct. 2007:

Ray Bradbury photo
Gabrielle Giffords photo
Michelle Obama photo
Miriam Makeba photo

“[Belafonte] was a good teacher and looked after me. He said, 'You have such great talent, you must try not to be a tornado - be like a submarine. It was good advice when I found myself speaking at the UN Committee Against Apartheid and then the UN General Assembly.”

Miriam Makeba (1932–2008) South African singer and civil rights activist

Interview with Robin Denselow (May 2008)
Source: Denselow, Robin, http://arts.guardian.co.uk/filmandmusic/story/0,,2280144,00.html, Robin Denselow talks to African superstar and activist Miriam Makeba, The Guardian, 15, London, 16 May 2008, 18 November 2010

Alexander Bain photo
Hermann Hesse photo
Alan Tower Waterman photo

“Effective science teaching calls for active contact with research and that teachers need to mingle with other scientists and to know what is going on in the field.”

Alan Tower Waterman (1892–1967) American physicist

in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists (March 1953), Vol. 9, No. 2,ISSN 0096-3402, published by Educational Foundation for Nuclear Science, Inc., p. 38.

Ken Robinson photo
Bernard of Clairvaux photo
Hariprasad Chaurasia photo
Paulo Freire photo
André Maurois photo
James K. Morrow photo