I don't think we expect enough of students. They just need someone to show them the way.

That's the beauty of art--we strive for perfection but never achieve it. The journey is everything.

The reason I love teaching, it's like being a miner. I find all these undiscovered jewels and, with the right motivation, they're amazed at what they can do. I have to show them their capability.

I want my students to love to read. Reading is not a subject. Reading is a foundation of life, an activity that people who are engaged with the world do all the time

It’s not the job of the teacher to save a child’s soul; it is the teacher’s job to provide an opportunity for the child to save his own soul.

Teach like your hair's on fire!

I want my kids to know that they're just as good and just as American as Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, or Dr. Martin Luther King. My worst fear is they will become ordinary.

Good teachers are an endangered species because they're giving up because of the tests and everything.

I love Shakespeare. In Shakespeare, tragedy is not just something that's bad. It's something that could be good and is bad.

Baseball is a religion in my classroom. It's a very important part of life, baseball.

I always tell the kids that excellence is like pregnancy. You can't be a little bit pregnant. You either are or you're not.

Open your heart to the true wonders that really exist in life.

If you can't explain why someone should pay attention to what you're saying, maybe you shouldn't be saying it.

...maybe you think up North is way different from down South. Don't believe it and don't count on it. Custom is just as real as law and can be just as dangerous.

Her solitary nature means she needs a family to keep her from loneliness my gregarious nature means I will never have to worry about being alone...

Everyone makes mistakes. The wise are not people who never make mistakes, but those who forgive themselves and learn from their mistakes.

Well, we lost it, and that’s all there is to that.

I'm teaching myself to believe in things I don't understand, I don't even know if they're true, but that's what dreamers do.

All you ever really want is a great character and great writing. As an actor, that's the juiciest sandwich you could ever ask for.

Speak the affirmative; emphasize your choice by utter ignoring of all that you reject.

Adversity deprives us of our judgment.