I am bourgeois to the core and parochial beyond belief, and yet I am drawn to art and scholarship as read more

I am bourgeois to the core and parochial beyond belief, and yet I am drawn to art and scholarship as my anti-type, my shadow, the voice of distinction I never possessed. I don't think of myself as a teacher so much as an impersonator of profundities, inhabiting the wisdom of texts with the naked confidence that the value of the genius I espouse transcends the particular fraud that I am the one espousing it. And it doesn't even matter to me that no one seems to be listening; those who listen that I don't know about are enough to keep me going--soaring on the wings of borrowed metaphors.

I have learned silence from the talkative, toleration from the intolerant, and kindness from the unkind; yet strange, I am read more

I have learned silence from the talkative, toleration from the intolerant, and kindness from the unkind; yet strange, I am ungrateful to those teachers.

A good teacher is like a candle - it consumes itself to light the way for others.

A good teacher is like a candle - it consumes itself to light the way for others.

The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires.

The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires.

Teachers open the door, but you must enter by yourself.

Teachers open the door, but you must enter by yourself.

Be an opener of doors for such as come after thee.

Be an opener of doors for such as come after thee.

Those who know how to think need no teachers.

Those who know how to think need no teachers.

Teaching is the greatest act of optimism.

Teaching is the greatest act of optimism.

Your best teacher is your last mistake.

Your best teacher is your last mistake.