No matter what your current ability is, effort is what ignites that ability and turns it into accomplishment.

In a growth mindset, challenges are exciting rather than threatening. So rather than thinking, oh, I'm going to reveal my weaknesses, you say, wow, here's a chance to grow.

Effort is one of those things that gives meaning to life. Effort means you care about something, that something is important to you and you are willing to work for it.

The best thing parents can do is to teach their children to love challenges, be intrigued by mistakes, enjoy effort, and keep on learning.

What did you learn today? What mistake did you make that taught you something? What did you try hard at today?

Test scores and measures of achievement tell you where a student is, but they don't tell you where a student could end up.

Failure is information-we label it failure, but it's more like, 'This didn't work, I'm a problem solver, and I'll try something else.'

Why waste time proving over and over how great you are, when you could be getting better?

Important achievements require a clear focus, all-out effort, and a bottomless trunk full of strategies. Plus allies in learning.

The wrong kind of praise creates self-defeating behavior. The right kind motivates students to learn.

Exceptional people convert life's setbacks into future successes.

My head was dizzy, but what of that? Float, stupid wooden head, and care nothing for tomorrow.

I live my life free of compromise, and step into the shadows without complaint or regret.

I really value people besides parents who nurture kids.

The only alternative to tradition is bad tradition

Any false value is gonna be fairly boring in Perl, mathematicians notwithstanding.

What else are our lives but a story we tell ourselves to find some sense in the pain ofliving?

I felt, this is what I want to be in my life. I want to be an actress.

A prime part of the history of our Constitution is the story of the extension of constitutional rights to people once ignored or excluded.

Oak trees come out of acorns, no matter how unlikely that seems. An acorn is just a tree's way back into the ground. For another try. Another trip through. One life for another.

Everything must be sacrificed, if necessary, for that one sentiment: universality.