There's so much that we're doing wrong today. And studies show we're one of three countries that doesn't invest more in disadvantaged communities.

I think the best thing that happened to the education system in New Orleans was Hurricane Katrina.

Even in a time of fiscal austerity, education is more than just an expense.

Borrowing to pay for college used to be the exception; now it's the rule.

Wherever you find something extraordinary, you’ll find the fingerprints of a great teacher.

In America, your zip code or your socioeconomic status should never determine the quality of your education.

We've seen more reform in the last year than we've seen in decades, and we haven't spent a dime yet. It's staggering how the Recovery Act is driving change.

Teachers support evaluations based on multiple measures: student growth, classroom observation and feedback from peers and parents.

To be clear, we the Department of Education want curriculum to be driven by the local level. We are by law prohibited from directing curriculum. We don't have a curriculum department.

The arts significantly boost student achievement, reduce discipline problems, and increase the odds students will go on to graduate from college.

Education is the civil rights issue of our generation.

I know what I have given you... I do not know what you have received.

If all we’re prepared for is unconventional warfare, suddenly a massed conventional attack becomes an asymmetric advantage.

Life doesn't imitate art it imitates bad television.

It is not true that Congress spends money like a drunken sailor. Drunken sailors spend their own money. Congress spends our money.

To be irreplaceable, you have to be different.

A good man's life is never quite ended; something of it always remains to touch and illuminate other lives.

I attract a different kind of boy when my hair's red. I get more quality men - like a more thoughtful, nerdy dude.

Don’t worry about cool, make your own uncool.

And we didn't have cell phones. If you made plans to meet someone in a snow storm, and they didn't show up, you just had to assume they were devoured by wolves and go on with your life.

The endeavor to change universal power by selfish supplication I do not believe in.