If all you ever do is all you've ever done, then all you'll ever get is all you've ever got.

I mean, one thing I know about change is we are not going to close the achievement gap without educators.

I do think we know that a teacher who knows what he or she is doing, knows their subject matter, and knows how to impart knowledge to kids is a critical piece of closing the achievement gap.

Higher education is confronting challenges, like the economy is, about the need for a higher number of more adequately trained, more highly educated citizenry.

Don't let anyone else take the measure of your worth and capabilities. Always stand proud in who you are!

In Connecticut, my understanding, although I haven't seen the actual litigation, is that they want to measure every other year and not provide annual assessment as is required in the statute.

And I think that we in America need to understand that many schools need improvement, and particularly with respect to how they're serving minority children.

My understanding is that Kansas, Massachusetts, they've been more pioneers on the special education side.

I think it'd be useful for parents to know kind of what is the culture of an institution.

We at the Department of Education are going to provide technical assistance; I've committed $14 million to show states how they might meet this more sophisticated approach.

It's a hard process to navigate... to figure out where your kid ought to go to college.

One of the biggest obstacles to making a start on climate change is that it has become a cliche before it has even been understood

It's better to die in pursuit of your dreams than to live a life without hope.

He might fight under my badge, Bet'anya, but you're the only one he would die for.

If you can't change it don't worry about it.

Art attracts us only by what it reveals of our most secret self.

You elected government officials to make decisions and it's about time they started making good ones

The best way to offset tension is with physical activity.

Your honor blinds you, Tempus, to what's right and wrong these days.

people themselves are full of tunnels: winding, dark spaces and caverns; impossible to know all the places inside of them. Impossible even to imagine.

If we are to prosper together in our increasingly small world, we must listen to -- and learn from each other's stories