In a completely rational society, the best of us would be teachers and the rest of us would have to read more

In a completely rational society, the best of us would be teachers and the rest of us would have to settle for something else.

A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops.

A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops.

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.

Teaching is not a lost art, but the regard for it is a lost tradition.

Teaching is not a lost art, but the regard for it is a lost tradition.

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.

Teaching is the greatest act of optimism.

Teaching is the greatest act of optimism.

I like a teacher who gives you something to take home to think about besides homework.

I like a teacher who gives you something to take home to think about besides homework.

Your best teacher is your last mistake.

Your best teacher is your last mistake.

Those who know how to think need no teachers.

Those who know how to think need no teachers.