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100 Education Quotes That Will Inspire You To Keep Growing

By Maxime Lagacé

Maxime is the founder of WisdomQuotes. He has been collecting quotes since 2004. His goal? To help you develop a calm and peaceful mind. Learn more about him on his about page .

Education is vital.

You without education:

• More likely to become poor
• More likely to have diseases
• More likely to commit crimes

You with education:

• More likely to be happy
• More likely to make more money
• More likely to live longer

So, what’s the key to a better future?

Inspired by this, I have compiled 100 of the best education quotes I could find.

To inspire you and make you realize the value of proper education.

You’ll discover quotes by Einstein, Budha, Lao Tzu, and more.

Who questions much, shall learn much, and retain much. Francis Bacon

Life itself is your teacher, and you are in a state of constant learning. Bruce Lee

A dull mind gets bored easily. A curious mind expands forever. Maxime Lagacé

Play is the highest form of research. Albert Einstein ( This source says it’s probably not from Einstein)

A generation of auto-didacts, educated by the Internet and leveraged by technology, will eventually starve the industrial-education system. Naval Ravikant

A well-educated mind will always have more questions than answers. Helen Keller

Children must be taught how to think, not what to think. Margaret Mead

The mind is not a vessel to be filled, but a fire to be kindled. Plutarch

Teaching kids to count is fine, but teaching them what counts is best. Bob Talber

Kids don’t remember what you try to teach them. They remember what you are. Jim Henson

A room without books is like a body without a soul. Cicero

The person who asks questions is more helpful than the person who offers advice. James Clear

The highest result of education is tolerance. Helen Keller

Only the autodidacts are free. Nassim Nicholas Taleb

They know enough who know how to learn. Henry Adams

• 100 Teacher Quotes Every Teacher Will Relate To
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The Best Education Quotes

The more you make it easy for your kids, the more you remove the struggle necessary for learning. Maxime Lagacé

A mind is a terrible thing to waste. United Negro College Fund

Learning is like rowing upstream: not to advance is to drop back. Chinese proverb

The giving of love is an education in itself. Eleanor Roosevelt

Lasting novels don’t come from literature departments. Successful businesses don’t come from business schools. Scientific revolutions don’t come from research universities. Get your education, then get moving. Find the loners tinkering at the edge . Naval Ravikant

Podcasts are free. Twitter is free. Wikipedia is free. YouTube is free. We are living in a golden age of self-education. Brian Feroldi ( Source )

He who asks is a fool for five minutes, but he who does not ask remains a fool forever. Chinese proverb

Skepticism: the mark and even the pose of the educated mind. John Dewey

If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need. Cicero

Instruction does much, but encouragement everything. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Free education is abundant, all over the Internet. It’s the desire to learn that’s scarce. Naval Ravikant

People learn more on their own rather than being force fed. Socrates

Education would be much more effective if its purpose was to ensure that by the time they leave school every boy and girl should know how much they do not know, and be imbued with a lifelong desire to know it. William Haley

Learning is not compulsory… neither is survival. W. Edwards Deming

Education begins the gentleman, but reading , good company and reflection must finish him. John Locke

Don’t let your learning lead to knowledge. Let your learning lead to action. Jim Rohn

The best teachers are those who show you where to look but don’t tell you what to see. Alexandra K. Trenfor

Everyone you will ever meet knows something you don’t. Bill Nye (upworthy.com)

Part 2. Education Quotes That Are…

The most famous education quotes.

Go to table of contents

The learned man knows that he is ignorant. Victor Hugo

I am still learning. Michelangelo

Learning never exhausts the mind. Leonardo da Vinci

Education is what remains after one has forgotten everything he learned in school. Albert Einstein

I have never let my schooling interfere with my education. Mark Twain

You can never be overdressed or overeducated. Oscar Wilde

Minds are like parachutes, they only function when they are open. James Dewar

The beautiful thing about learning is nobody can take it away from you. B. B. King

The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page. Augustine of Hippo

I don’t think much of a man who is not wiser today than he was yesterday. Abraham Lincoln

My education was interrupted only by my schooling. Winston Churchill

The most useful piece of learning for the uses of life is to unlearn what is untrue. Antisthenes

As long as you live, keep learning how to live. Lucius Annaeus Seneca

Short Education Quotes

Nine tenths of education is encouragement. Anatole France

Responsibility educates. Wendell Phillips

A sign of good education: students don’t feel entitled. Maxime Lagacé

If you think education is expensive, try ignorance. Andy McIntyre

The world exists for the education of each man. Ralph Waldo Emerson

The authority of those who teach is often an obstacle to those who want to learn. Marcus Tullius Cicero

Even a fool learns something once it hits him. Homer

Much learning does not teach understanding. Heraclitus

Success is a poor teacher. Robert Kiyosaki

The foundation of every state is the education of its youth. Diogenes

There is no education like adversity. Benjamin Disraeli

Teachers open the door, but you must enter by yourself. Chinese proverb

When you learn, teach. When you get, give. Maya Angelou

Inspirational Education Quotes

If people did not do silly things, nothing intelligent would ever get done. Ludwig Wittgenstein

If you don’t go after what you want, you’ll never have it. If you don’t ask, the answer is always no. If you don’t step forward, you’re always in the same place. Nora Roberts

Always do your best. What you plant now, you will harvest later. Og Mandino

When anything can be learned online, the barrier to education is simply motivation, curiosity, and persistence. Anthony Pompliano ( Source )

With the new day comes new strength and new thoughts. Eleanor Roosevelt

The ideal school would teach health, wealth, and happiness . It‘d be free, self-paced, and available to all. It‘d show opposing ideas and students would self-verify truth. No grades, no tests, no diplomas – just learning. Actually, you’re already here. Careful who you follow. Naval Ravikant (Naval referred to the Internet and social medias like Twitter and LinkedIn)

Education is supposed to juice your curiosity, not diminish or sate it. Walter Isaacson

Every person with a smartphone and a pair of headphones has access to the kind of education that was once reserved for the sons of aristocracy. The Stoic Emperor

Every child deserves a champion: an adult who will never give up on them, who understands the power of connection and insists they become the best they can possibly be. Rita Pierson

They cannot stop me. I will get my education, if it is in the home, school, or anyplace. Malala Yousafzai

All who have meditated on the art of governing mankind have been convinced that the fate of empires depends on the education of youth. Aristotle

Apply yourself. Get all the education you can, but then, by God, do something. Don’t just stand there, make it happen. Lee Iacocca

Only education is capable of saving our societies from possible collapse, whether violent, or gradual. Jean Piaget

Funny And Surprising Education Sayings

You know how to tell if the teacher is hung over? Movie Day. Jay Mohr

You can learn many things from children. How much patience you have, for instance. Franklin P. Jones

Having a two-year-old is like having a blender that you don’t have the top for. Jerry Seinfeld

Any kid will run any errand for you if you ask at bedtime. Red Skelton

The human brain is special. It starts working as soon as you get up and it doesn’t stop until you get to school. Milton Berle 😂

Education: the path from cocky ignorance to miserable uncertainty. Mark Twain

When a teacher calls a boy by his entire name, it means trouble. Mark Twain

I was reading the dictionary. I thought it was a poem about everything. Steven Wright

Time is the best teacher, but unfortunately, it kills all of its students. Robin Williams

To add a library to a house is to give that house a soul. Marcus Tullius Cicero

Education Proverbs For Value-Packed Wisdom

When the student is ready, the master appears. Buddhist proverb

If a seed of a lettuce will not grow, we do not blame the lettuce. Instead, the fault lies with us for not having nourished the seed properly. Buddhist proverb

Knowledge is learning something new every day. Wisdom is letting go of something every day. Zen proverb

A single conversation with a wise man is better than 10 years of study. Chinese proverb

Learning is a treasure that will follow its owner everywhere. Chinese proverb

Tell me and I’ll forget; show me and I may remember; involve me and I’ll understand. Chinese proverb

Do not confine your children to your own learning, for they were born in another time. Chinese proverb

Wise men may not be learned; learned men may not be wise. Chinese proverb

A stumble may prevent a fall. English proverb

Despise school and remain a fool. German proverb

All things good to know are difficult to learn. Greek proverb

An apprentice near a temple will recite the scriptures untaught. Japanese proverb

Fall down seven times, stand up eight. Japanese proverb

Better than a thousand days of diligent study is one day with a great teacher. Japanese proverb

By learning you will teach; by teaching you will understand. Latin proverb

All the world is a laboratory to the inquiring mind. Martin H. Fischer

I am learning all the time. The tombstone will be my diploma. Eartha Kitt

Key Takeaways

• Want a great education? Never get bored asking questions.
• Want a great way to learn? Play! Don’t be so serious.
• Want to go far in life? Be an autodidact. You can learn anything on the Internet.
• Remember: answers are good, but questions are better.
• To know is good. To know what’s worth knowing is better.

Further Readings

• Topic: Education
• 100 Learning Quotes To Inspire You To Learn (Forever)
• 100 Knowledge Quotes That Will Change Your Perspective
• 65 Growth Mindset Quotes (To Improve Your Life)
• 75 Understanding Quotes To Bring Clarity Into Your Life
• 145 Thinking Quotes To Make You More Thoughtful
• 77 Intelligence Quotes (From The Best Minds Ever)
• 89 Ana Lorena Fabrega Quotes On School, Kids, Education
• How To Learn Faster – 30 Simple Hacks (Based On Science)

Hope you enjoyed these beautiful education quotes. If you did, please share them with a friend today!

What’s your favorite education quote? And remember: words can transform your life, if you find the right ones.

Table Of Contents

Part 1 Top 15 Images Best Quotes

Part 2 Education Quotes That ARE Famous Short Inspirational Funny Proverbs

Part 3 Conclusion

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70 of Our Favorite Quotes About Reading

Never underestimate the power of a good book.

Who doesn’t love getting lost in a book? Reading not only opens up doors and inspires, it also serves as a timeless education for many. Using quotes about reading around your classroom can encourage students to start a new book series or learn something new. Check out this list of 70 of our favorite quotes about reading!

Our Favorite Quotes About Reading

“it was a wonderful night, such a night as is only possible when we are young, dear reader.” — fyodor dostoyevsky.

“Reading is essential for those who seek to rise above the ordinary.” — Jim Rohn

“Think before you speak. Read before you think.” — Fran Lebowitz

“In the case of good books, the point is not to see how many of them you can get through, but rather how many can get through to you.” — Mortimer J. Adler

“The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.” — Dr. Seuss

“Reading one book is like eating one potato chip.” — Diane Duane

“Reading is an exercise in empathy; an exercise in walking in someone else’s shoes for a while.” — Malorie Blackman

“Books are a uniquely portable magic.” — Stephen King

“Reading brings us unknown friends.” — Honoré de Balzac

“Once you have read a book you care about, some part of it is always with you.” — Louis L’Amour

“There is more treasure in books than in all the pirate’s loot on Treasure Island.” — Walt Disney

“Read the best books first, or you may not have a chance to read them at all.” — Henry David Thoreau

“Books serve to show a man that those original thoughts of his aren’t very new after all.” — Abraham Lincoln

“Once you learn to read, you will be forever free.” — Frederick Douglass

“A book is a gift you can open again and again.” — Garrison Keillor

“To learn to read is to light a fire; every syllable that is spelled out is a spark.” — Victor Hugo

“I think books are like people, in the sense that they’ll turn up in your life when you most need them.” — Emma Thompson

“Rainy days should be spent at home with a cup of tea and a good book.” — Bill Watterson

“If you don’t like to read, you haven’t found the right book.” — J.K. Rowling

“Books are not made for furniture, but there is nothing else that so beautifully furnishes a house.” — Horace Mann

“Books break the shackles of time, proof that humans can work magic.” — Carl Sagan

“Reading for me is spending time with a friend.” — Gary Paulsen

“We read to know we’re not alone.” — William Nicholson

“Keep reading. It’s one of the most marvelous adventures that anyone can have.” — Lloyd Alexander

“Books are the mirrors of the soul.” — Virginia Woolf

“Books and doors are the same thing. You open them, and you go through into another world.” — Jeanette Winterson

“What I love most about reading: It gives you the ability to reach higher ground. And keep climbing.” — Oprah Winfrey

“Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body.” — Richard Steele

“Read a thousand books, and your words will flow like a river.” — Lisa See

“The reading of all good books is like a conversation with the finest minds of past centuries.” — Rene Descartes

“I have always imagined that paradise will be a kind of library.” — Jorge Luis Borges

“And so he was reading the story as if it were a spell and the words of it, spoken aloud, could make magic happen.” — Kate DiCamillo

“The world is shaped by two things—stories told and the memories they leave behind.” — Vera Nazarian

“Even in writing an annual report, the unconscious plays a role.” — Mason Cooley

“Books should go where they will be most appreciated, and not sit unread, gathering dust on a forgotten shelf, don’t you agree?” — Christopher Paolini

“Putting down a good book can almost be an impossible act to do.” —Unknown

“A mind needs books as a sword needs a whetstone, if it is to keep its edge.” — George R.R. Martin

“Immersing oneself in the problems of a book is a good way to keep from thinking of love.” — Orhan Pamuk

“Stories can conquer fear, you know. They can make the heart bigger.” — Ben Okri

“Reading—the best state yet to keep absolute loneliness at bay.” — William Styron

“A capacity, and taste, for reading, gives access to whatever has already been discovered by others. It is the key, or one of the keys, to the already solved problems.” — Abraham Lincoln

“Reading is like breathing in, writing is like breathing out.” — Pam Allyn

“Today a reader, tomorrow a leader.” — W. Fusselman

“I am a part of everything that I have read.” —Unknown

“A parent or a teacher has only his lifetime; a good book can teach forever.” — Louis L’Amour

“I can’t write without a reader. It’s precisely like a kiss—you can’t do it alone.” — John Cheever

“I divide all readers into two classes: those who read to remember and those who read to forget.”— William Lyon Phelps

“Books themselves need no defense. Their spokesmen come and go, their readers live and die, they remain constant.” — Lawrence Clark Powell

“The profession of the writer has its thorns about which the reader does not dream.” — Henryk Sienkiewicz

“Perhaps there are none more lazy, or more truly ignorant, than your everlasting readers.” — William Cobbett

“The unread story is not a story; it is little black marks on wood pulp. The reader, reading it, makes it live: a live thing, a story.” — Ursula K. Le Guin

“As writers and readers, as sinners and citizens, our realism and our aesthetic sense make us wary of crediting the positive note.” — Seamus Heaney

“While the spoken word can travel faster, you can’t take it home in your hand. Only the written word can be absorbed wholly at the convenience of the reader.” — Kingman Brewster Jr.

“One must be a wise reader to quote wisely and well.” — Amos Bronson Alcott

“There isn’t any distinction between a reader and a writer—reading is so much a part of it.” — Dermot Healy

“A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies, said Jojen. The man who never reads lives only one.” — George R.R. Martin

“The newspaper fits the reader’s program while the listener must fit the broadcaster’s program.” — Kingman Brewster Jr.

“A memorandum is written not to inform the reader but to protect the writer.” — Dean Acheson

“If modesty and candor are necessary to an author in his judgment of his own works, no less are they in his reader.” — Sarah Fielding

“A novel is like a bow, and the violin that produces the sound is the reader’s soul.” — Stendhal

“Each reader discovers for himself that, with respect to the simpler features of nature, succeeding poets have done little else than copy his similes.” — Henry David Thoreau

“Readers have a loyalty that cannot be matched anywhere else in the creative arts, which explains why so many writers who have run out of gas can keep coasting anyway, propelled on to the bestseller lists …” — Stephen King

“Authors frequently say things they are unaware of; only after they have gotten the reactions of their readers do they discover what they have said.” — Umberto Eco

“Good writers have two things in common: They prefer to be understood rather than admired; and they do not write for knowing and over-acute readers.” — Friedrich Nietzsche

“The profit of books is according to the sensibility of the reader. The profoundest thought or passion sleeps as in a mine until an equal mind and heart finds and publishes it.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Homeliness is almost as great a merit in a book as in a house, if the reader would abide there. It is next to beauty, and a very high art.” — Henry David Thoreau

“The true reader reads every work seriously in the sense that he reads it wholeheartedly, makes himself as receptive as he can. But for that very reason he cannot possibly read every work solemnly or gravely. … He will never commit the error of trying to munch whipped cream as if it were venison.” — C.S. Lewis

“Some of my youthful readers are developing wonderful imaginations. This pleases me.” — L. Frank Baum

“Writing is not like painting where you add. … Writing is more like a sculpture where you remove, you eliminate in order to make the work visible. Even those pages you remove somehow remain.” — Elie Wiesel

Like these quotes about reading? Check out these motivational quotes for students .

Come share your favorite reading quotes in the we are teachers helpline group on facebook .

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Home › Education Quotes

Education Quotes for Teachers and Students

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Whether you’re a teacher or a student, a new school year is an exciting time. These education quotes will get you ready to enjoy teaching and learning anytime.

School pushes us out of our comfort zone, teaches us to dream big, and encourages us to achieve our potential.

In celebration of all the amazing things that education, we’ve put together a list of the best quotes about school, learning, and teaching.

So whether you’re a parent, student, or teacher – we’ve got you covered as you get ready for another year of school.

Page Contents

Top 10 Education Quotes

Education is the kindling of a flame, not the filling of a vessel. Socrates

Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world. Nelson Mandela

Education is the key to unlocking the world, a passport to freedom. Oprah Winfrey

Education is not preparation for life; education is life itself. John Dewey

Education brings about opportunity, and in turn inspiration . Bill Frist

The great aim of education is not knowledge but action. Herbert Spencer

The roots of education are bitter, but the fruit is sweet. Aristotle

Education is a better safeguard of liberty than a standing army. Edward Everett 

Quotes about Education

Whether you’re at the beginning of a new year or semester of learning, or aren’t quite sure where your knowledge will take you next – look no further than these inspiring education quotes.

Education is the methodical creation of the habit of thinking. Ernest Dimnet

Education’s purpose is to replace an empty mind with an open one. Malcolm Forbes

Only the educated are free. Epictetus

Education is simply the soul of a society as it passes from one generation to another. Gilbert K. Chesterton

Education is teaching our children to desire the right things. Plato

It is clearly absurd to limit the term ‘education’ to a person’s formal schooling. Murray N. Rothbard

Education is the passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to those who prepare for it today. Malcolm X

All the world is a laboratory to the inquiring mind. Martin Fisher

Education is not just about going to school and getting a degree. It’s about widening your knowledge and absorbing the truth about life. Shakuntala Devi

Intelligence is the ability to adapt to change. Stephen Hawking

Don’t just teach your children to read. Teach them to question what they read. Teach them to question everything. George Carlin

Even the genius asks questions. Tupac Shakur

The only person who is educated is the one who has learned how to learn and change. Carl Rogers

Knowing is not enough; We must apply. Willing is not enough; We must do. Bruce Lee

Education without values, as useful as it is, seems rather to make man a more clever devil. C.S. Lewis

Any fool can know. The point is to understand. Albert Einstein

Development is a series of rebirths. Maria Montessori

What you think, you become. What you feel, you attract. What you imagine, you create. Buddha

Intelligence plus character-that is the goal of true education. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Education is the premise of progress, in every society, in every family. Kofi Annan

A person who won’t read has no advantage over one who can’t read. Mark Twain

Education is what remains after one has forgotten what one has learned in school. Albert Einstein

Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire. W.B. Yeats

Education costs money. But then so does ignorance. Sir Claus Moser

Upon the subject of education … I can only say that I view it as the most important subject which we as a people may be engaged in. Abraham Lincoln

Education is the ability to listen to almost anything without losing your temper or your self-confidence. Robert Frost

Educating the mind without educating the heart is no education at all. Aristotle

They cannot stop me. I will get my education, if it is in the home, school, or anyplace. Malala Yousafzai

To me education is a leading out of what is already there in the pupil’s soul. Muriel Spark

Education is for improving the lives of others and for leaving your community and world better than you found it. Marian Wright Edelman

The whole purpose of education is to turn mirrors into windows. Sydney J. Harris

Formal education will make you a living; self-education will make you a fortune. Jim Rohn

Education is the key to unlock the golden door of freedom. George Washington Carver

A well-educated mind will always have more questions than answers. Helen Keller

Learning Quotes

Live as if you will die tomorrow. Learn as if you will live forever. Mahatma Gandhi

The learning process continues until the day you die. Kirk Douglas

The doer alone learneth. Friedrich Nietzsche

I don’t think much of a man who is not wiser today than he was yesterday. Abraham Lincoln

Anything worth doing well is worth doing poorly at first. Ray Congdon

It is not from ourselves that we learn to be better than we are. Wendell Berry

The more I read, the more I acquire, the more certain I am that I know nothing. Voltaire

Learning is not compulsory. Neither is survival. Dr. W. Edwards Deming

Yesterday I was clever, so I changed the world. Today I am wise, so I am changing myself. Rumi

The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go! Dr. Seuss

Being a student is easy. Learning requires actual work. William Crawford

A man who carries a cat by the tail learns something he can learn in no other way. Mark Twain

Learning is a treasure that will follow its owner everywhere. Chinese Proverb

The beautiful thing about learning is that nobody can take it away from you. B.B. King

Learning is not attained by chance, it must be sought for with ardor and attended to with diligence. Abigail Adams

We learn more by looking for the answer to a question and not finding it than we do from learning the answer itself. Lloyd Alexander

Man’s mind, once stretched by a new idea, never regains its original dimensions. Oliver Wendell Holmes

The object of opening the mind, as of opening the mouth, is to close it again on something solid. G.K. Chesterton

Being ignorant is not so much a shame, as being unwilling to learn. Benjamin Franklin

Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. Henry Ford

Every act of conscious learning requires the willingness to suffer an injury to one’s self-esteem. That is why young children, before they are aware of their own self-importance, learn so easily. Thomas Szasz

Change is the end result of all true learning. Leo Buscaglia

It’s what you learn after you know it all that counts. Harry S. Truman

It is what we know already that often prevents us from learning. Claude Bernard

Always walk through life as if you have something new to learn and you will. Vernon Howard

Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn. Benjamin Franklin

A plant needs roots in order to grow. With man it is the other way around: only when he grows does he have roots and feels at home in the world. Eric Hoffer

By three methods we may learn wisdom: First, by reflection, which is noblest; Second, by imitation, which is easiest; and third by experience, which is the bitterest. Confucius

An investment in knowledge pays the best interest. Benjamin Franklin

Develop a passion for learning. If you do, you will never cease to grow. Anthony J. D’Angelo

Man can learn nothing except by going from the known to the unknown. Claude Bernard

Be curious, not judgmental. Walt Whitman

I’m still learning. Michelangelo

The more I live, the more I learn. The more I learn, the more I realize, the less I know. Michel Legrand

For the things we have to learn before we can do them, we learn by doing them. Aristotle

Do these learning quotes have you ready for more knowledge? See our list of 8 Essential Books for Graduate Students and keep learning at the highest level.

School Quotes

A new desk, a handful of freshly sharpened pencils, the first page of a new workbook… there are no days quite like school days!

From Kindergarten to college, celebrate all stages of education and their role in shaping our futures with these great school quotes.

In school, you’re taught a lesson and then given a test. In life, you’re given a test that teaches you a lesson. Tom Bodett

The pathway to educational excellence lies within each school. Terrance Deal

We don’t stop going to school when we graduate . Carol Burnett

If the school sends out children with a desire for knowledge and some idea of how to acquire and use it, it will have done its work. Richard Livingstone

What a school thinks about its library is a measure of what it feels about education. Harold Howe

School made us ‘literate’ but did not teach us to read for pleasure. Ambeth Ocampo

Instruction does much, but encouragement everything. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Spoon feeding in the long run teaches us nothing but the shape of the spoon. E.M. Forster

In school we learn that mistakes are bad, and we are punished for making them. Yet, if you look at the way humans are designed to learn, we learn by making mistakes. We learn to walk by falling down. If we never fell down, we would never walk. Robert T. Kiosaki

The human mind is our fundamental resource. John F. Kennedy

Children want the same things we want. To laugh, to be challenged, to be entertained, and delighted. Dr. Seuss

What makes a child gifted and talented may not always be good grades in school, but a different way of looking at the world and learning. Chuck Grassley

Expecting all children the same age to learn from the same materials is like expecting all children the same age to wear the same size clothing. Madeline Hunter

It is as impossible to withhold education from the receptive mind as it is impossible to force it upon the unreasoning. Agnes Repplierg

Take the attitude of a student, never be too big to ask questions, never know too much to learn something new. Og Mandino

I have never let my schooling interfere with my education. Mark Twain

School is a place that provides education, and education is the key to life. Unknown

When you take the free will out of education, that turns it into schooling. John Taylor Gatto

I’m not going to school just for the academics – I wanted to share ideas, to be around people who are passionate about learning. Emma Watson

School prepares you for the real world… which also bites. Jim Benton

There’s no use going to school unless your final destination is the library. Ray Bradbury

The chief reason for going to school is to get the impression fixed for life that there is a book for everything. Robert Frost

Every student can learn, just not on the same day, or the same way. George Evans

They spent the first three years of school getting you to pretend stuff and then the rest of it marking you down if you did the same thing.Margaret Atwood

Let the improvement of yourself keep you so busy that you have no time to criticize others. Roy T. Bennett

The ideal school would teach health, wealth, and happiness. It‘d be free, self-paced, and available to all. It‘d show opposing ideas and students would self-verify truth. No grades, no tests, no diplomas – just learning. Actually, you’re already here. Careful who you follow. Naval Ravikant

I think the big mistake in schools is trying to teach children anything, and by using fear as the basic motivation. Fear of getting failing grades, fear of not staying with your class, etc. Interest can produce learning on a scale compared to fear as a nuclear explosion to a firecracker. Stanley Kubrick

The school is the last expenditure upon which America should be willing to economize. Franklin D. Roosevelt

Education would be much more effective if its purpose was to ensure that by the time they leave school every boy and girl should know how much they do not know, and be imbued with a lifelong desire to know it. William Haley

You can’t learn in school what the world is going to do next year. Henry Ford

Cheating in school is a form of self-deception. We go to school to learn. We cheat ourselves when we coast on the efforts and scholarship of someone else. James E. Faust

You must get an education. You must go to school, and you must learn to protect yourself. And you must learn to protect yourself with the pen, and not the gun. Josephine Baker

Education begins at home . You can’t blame the school for not putting into your child what you don’t put into him. Geoffrey Holder

Teaching Quotes

Teachers have the amazing power of being able to inspire young minds.

Celebrate those who help children and young people achieve their potential with these quotes about teachers and teaching.

The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires. William Arthur Ward

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

Teaching is a very noble profession that shapes the character, caliber, and future of an individual. If the people remember me as a good teacher, that will be the biggest honor for me. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam

A word of encouragement from a teacher to a child can change a life. A word of encouragement from a spouse can save a marriage . A word of encouragement from a leader can inspire a person to reach her potential. John C. Maxwell

Let us remember: One book, one pen, one child and one teacher can change the world. Malala Yousafzai

A good teacher, like a good entertainer first must hold his audience’s attention, then he can teach his lesson. John Henrik Clarke

The authority of those who teach is often an obstacle to those who want to learn. Cicero

The task of the modern educator is not to cut down jungles, but to irrigate deserts. C.S. Lewis

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

A teacher who loves learning earns the right and the ability to help others learn. Ruth Beechick

Learning is not the product of teaching. Learning is the product of the activity of learners. John Holt

I am indebted to my father for living, but to my teacher for living well. Alexander the Great

Proper teaching is recognized with ease. You can know it without fail because it awakens within you that sensation which tells you this is something you have always known. Frank Herbert

The best teachers are those who show you where to look but don’t tell you what to see. Alexandra K. Trenfor

Education is too important to be left solely to educators. Francis Keppel

If we want our children to value education, then we must show our appreciation for knowledge. Brad Sherman

The job of an educator is to teach students to see vitality in themselves. Joseph Campbell

Education is the key to success in life, and teachers make a lasting impact in the lives of their students. Solomon Ortiz

A teacher is one who makes himself progressively unnecessary. Thomas Carruthers

We hope you’re feeling inspired and excited to go back to school!

Enjoy these education quotes and quotes on teaching and learning anytime you need some extra schooling for your mind. Let us know your favorite below!

Natalie Seale

1 thought on “Education Quotes for Teachers and Students”

This is the best quote for education The quote which i love in this list is “Teaching is not a lost art, but the regard for it is a lost tradition.”

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80 Inspiring Quotes About Books and Reading

Books are important for the mind, heart, and soul. But don't take it from us: These quotes about reading speak for themselves.

By Stefanie Hargreaves

The power to be found between the pages of a book is formidable, indeed. And these 80 inspiring quotes about books and importance of reading are here to remind you of that. From beloved bestsellers to iconic celebrities, these quotes exemplify the benefits of reading and of a good books to comfort, challenge, and inspire you. For, as author Anna Quindlen says, "Books are the plane, and the train, and the road. They are the destination, and the journey. They are home."

"Today a reader, tomorrow a leader." – Margaret Fuller

"A word after a word after a word is power." – Margaret Atwood

"One glance at a book and you hear the voice of another person, perhaps someone dead for 1,000 years. To read is to voyage through time." – Carl Sagan

"Show me a family of readers, and I will show you the people who move the world." – Napoleon Bonaparte

"A book is a garden, an orchard, a storehouse, a party, a company by the way, a counselor, a multitude of counselors." – Charles Baudelaire

"When I look back, I am so impressed again with the life-giving power of literature. If I were a young person today, trying to gain a sense of myself in the world, I would do that again by reading, just as I did when I was young." – Maya Angelou

"Reading should not be presented to children as a chore, a duty. It should be offered as a gift." – Kate DiCamillo

"I think books are like people, in the sense that they’ll turn up in your life when you most need them." – Emma Thompson

"It wasn't until I started reading and found books they wouldn't let us read in school that I discovered you could be insane and happy and have a good life without being like everybody else." – John Waters

"Books are a uniquely portable magic." – Stephen King, On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft

"Books are mirrors: You only see in them what you already have inside you." – Carlos Ruiz Zafón, The Shadow of the Wind

Think before you speak. Read before you think. – Fran Lebowitz

"Let’s be reasonable and add an eighth day to the week that is devoted exclusively to reading." – Lena Dunham

"If you don’t like to read, you haven’t found the right book." – J.K. Rowling

"I can feel infinitely alive curled up on the sofa reading a book." – Benedict Cumberbatch

"Some books leave us free and some books make us free." – Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Writing and reading decrease our sense of isolation. They deepen and widen and expand our sense of life: They feed the soul. When writers make us shake our heads with the exactness of their prose and their truths, and even make us laugh about ourselves or life, our buoyancy is restored. We are given a shot at dancing with, or at least clapping along with, the absurdity of life, instead of being squashed by it over and over again. It's like singing on a boat during a terrible storm at sea. You can't stop the raging storm, but singing can change the hearts and spirits of the people who are together on that ship." – Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird

"We tell ourselves stories in order to live." – Joan Didion, The White Album

"Books and doors are the same thing. You open them, and you go through into another world." – Jeanette Winterson

"A good would take me out of myself and then stuff me back in, outsized, now, and uneasy with the fit." – David Sedaris

"Books are, let's face it, better than everything else. If we played Cultural Fantasy Boxing League, and made books go fifteen rounds in the ring against the best that any other art form had to offer, then books would win pretty much every time." – Nick Hornby, The Polysyllabic Spree

We read to know we are not alone. – C.S. Lewis

"As you read a book word by word and page by page, you participate in its creation, just as a cellist playing a Bach suite participates, note by note, in the creation, the coming-to-be, the existence, of the music. And, as you read and re-read, the book of course participates in the creation of you, your thoughts and feelings, the size and temper of your soul." – Ursula K. Le Guin

"It is really hard to be lonely very long in a world of words. Even if you don't have friends somewhere, you still have language, and it will find you and wrap its little syllables around you and suddenly there will be a story to live in." – Naomi Shihab Nye, I'll Ask You Three Times, Are You OK?: Tales of Driving and Being Driven

"Read a lot. Expect something big, something exalting or deepening from a book. No book is worth reading that isn't worth re-reading." – Susan Sontag

"Have books ‘happened’ to you? Unless your answer to that question is ‘yes,’ I’m unsure how to talk to you." – Haruki Murakami

"A story can always break into pieces while it sits inside a book on a shelf; and, decades after we have read it even twenty times, it can open us up, by cut or caress, to a new truth." – Andre Dubus, Meditations from a Movable Chair

"Once you learn to read, you will be forever free." – Frederick Douglass

"Literature is the safe and traditional vehicle through which we learn about the world and pass on values from one generation to the next. Books save lives." – Laurie Anderson

"Reading fiction is important. It is a vital means of imagining a life other than our own, which in turn makes us more empathetic beings. Following complex story lines stretches our brains beyond the 140 characters of sound-bite thinking, and staying within the world of a novel gives us the ability to be quiet and alone, two skills that are disappearing faster than the polar icecaps." – Ann Patchett

"Both reading and writing are experiences – lifelong – in the course of which we who encounter words used in certain ways are persuaded by them to be brought mind and heart within the presence, the power, of the imagination." – Eudora Welty

A room without books is like a body without a soul. – Cicero

"The reading of all good books is like a conversation with the finest minds of past centuries." – Rene Descartes

"That’s the thing about books. They let you travel without moving your feet." – Jhumpa Lahiri, The Namesake

"I love the way that each book — any book — is its own journey. You open it, and off you go…" – Sharon Creech

"Reading is an exercise in empathy; an exercise in walking in someone else’s shoes for a while." – Malorie Blackman

"Reading is a form of prayer, a guided meditation that briefly makes us believe we’re someone else, disrupting the delusion that we’re permanent and at the center of the universe. Suddenly (we’re saved!) other people are real again, and we’re fond of them." – George Saunders

"A great book should leave you with many experiences, and slightly exhausted at the end. You live several lives while reading." – William Styron

"I guess a big part of serious fiction’s purpose is to give the reader, who like all of us is sort of marooned in her own skull, to give her imaginative access to other selves." – David Foster Wallace

"Reading is escape, and the opposite of escape; it's a way to make contact with reality after a day of making things up, and it's a way of making contact with someone else's imagination after a day that's all too real." – Nora Ephron

"Reading makes immigrants of us all. It takes us away from home, but more important, it finds homes for us everywhere." – Jean Rhys

"Salvation is certainly among the reasons I read. Reading and writing have always pulled me out of the darkest experiences in my life. Stories have given me a place in which to lose myself. They have allowed me to remember. They have allowed me to forget. They have allowed me to imagine different endings and better possible worlds." – Roxane Gay, Bad Feminist

"You think your pain and your heartbreak are unprecedented in the history of the world, but then you read. It was books that taught me that the things that tormented me most were the very things that connected me with all the people who were alive, who had ever been alive." – James Baldwin

"Reading is important. If you know how to read, then the whole world opens up to you." – Barack Obama

"That is part of the beauty of all literature. You discover that your longings are universal longings, that you’re not lonely and isolated from anyone. You belong." – F. Scott Fitzgerald

"We don’t need a list of rights and wrongs, tables of dos and don’ts: We need books, time, and silence. Thou shalt not is soon forgotten, but Once upon a time lasts forever." – Philip Pullman

"Books may well be the only true magic." – Alice Hoffman, Magic Lessons

"Maybe this is why we read, and why in moments of darkness we return to books: to find words for what we already know." – Alberto Manguel, A Reading Diary: A Passionate Reader's Reflections on a Year of Books

"A book lying idle on a shelf is wasted ammunition. Like money, books must be kept in constant circulation... A book is not only a friend, it makes friends for you. When you have possessed a book with mind and spirit, you are enriched. But when you pass it on, you are enriched threefold." – Henry Miller, The Books in My Life

"Reading is an active, imaginative act; it takes work." – Khaled Hosseini

"It is known that reading quickens the growth of a heart like nothing else." – Catherynne M. Valente, The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making

"If you would tell me the heart of a man, tell me not what he reads, but what he rereads." – François Mauriac

"To acquire the habit of reading is to construct for yourself a refuge from almost all the miseries of life." – W. Somerset Maugham, Books And You

"I don't read a book; I hold a conversation with the author." – Elbert Hubbard

"Some books are so familiar that reading them is like being home again." – Louisa May Alcott, Little Women

"A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies... The man who never reads lives only one." – George R.R. Martin, A Dance with Dragons

"Some books should be tasted, some devoured, but only a few should be chewed and digested thoroughly." – Sir Francis Bacon

"Reading is the sole means by which we slip, involuntarily, often helplessly, into another's skin, another's voice, another's soul." – Joyce Carol Oates

"A book, too, can be a star, a living fire to lighten the darkness, leading out into the expanding universe." – Madeleine L'Engle

"Books have a unique way of stopping time in a particular moment and saying: Let's not forget this." – Dave Eggers

"Isn't it odd how much fatter a book gets when you've read it several times? As if something were left between the pages every time you read it. Feelings, thoughts, sounds, smells... and then, when you look at the book again many years later, you find yourself there, too, a slightly younger self, slightly different, as if the book had preserved you like pressed flower... both strange and familiar." – Cornelia Funke, Inkspell

"The best books... are those that tell you what you know already." – George Orwell, 1984

"Many a book is like a key to unknown chambers within the castle of one's own self." – Franz Kafka

"Reading was my escape and my comfort, my consolation, my stimulant of choice: reading for the pure pleasure of it, for the beautiful stillness that surrounds you when you hear an author's words reverberating in your head." – Paul Auster, The Brooklyn Follies

"Books can be dangerous. The best ones should be labelled 'This could change your life.'" – Helen Exley

"There are some books that reached through the noise of life to grab you by the collar and speak only of the truest things." – Jeffrey Eugenides, The Marriage Plot

"Sometimes, you read a book and it fills you with this weird evangelical zeal, and you become convinced that the shattered world will never be put back together unless and until all living humans read the book." – John Green, The Fault in Our Stars

"The best moments in reading are when you come across something–a thought, a feeling, a way of looking at things–which you had thought special and particular to you. Now here it is, set down by someone else, a person you have never met, someone even who is long dead. And it is as if a hand has come out and taken yours." – Alan Bennett, The History Boys

"Reading is essential for those who seek to rise about the ordinary." – Jim Rohn

"The story is truly finished–and meaning is made–not when the author adds the last period, but when the reader enters." – Celeste Ng

"One must always be careful of books, and what is inside them, for words have the power to change us." – Cassandra Clare, Clockwork Angel

"A book is a gift you can open again and again." – Garrison Kellor

"Books are the quietest and most constant of friends; they are the most accessible and wisest of counselors, and the most patient of teachers." – Charles W. Eliot

"Books should go where they will be most appreciated, and not sit unread, gathering dust on a forgotten shelf, don't you agree?" – Christopher Paolini

"Once you've read a book you care about, some part of it is always with you." – Louis L'Amour

"The magic is only in what books say, how they stitched the patches of the universe together into one garment for us." – Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451

"That's what I love about reading: one tiny thing will interest you in a book, and that tiny thing will lead you to another book, and another bit there will lead you onto a third book. It's geometrically progressive–all with no end in sight, and for no other reason than sheer enjoyment." – Mary Ann Shaffer, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society

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106 Inspirational Education Quotes for Students & Teachers

These inspiring educational quotes will show students, teachers and parents the power of learning. Wether you’re looking to motivate kids or young adults in the classroom, or other teachers and colleagues, this is the wisdom they need to thrive and be their very best version of themselves.

Also make sure to see these inspirational quotes for kids (if you’re looking to inspire and motivate the next generation).

Education Quotes

“Study without desire spoils the memory, and it retains nothing that it takes in.” – Leonardo da Vinci

“The content of a book holds the power of education and it is with this power that we can shape our future and change lives.” – Malala Yousafzai

“The mind is not a vessel to be filled but a fire to be kindled.” – Plutarch

You may also like: These Dr. Seuss quotes: https://brightdrops.com/dr-seuss-quotes

“Experience is not what happens to you; it’s what you do with what happens to you.” – Aldous Huxley

“Education without application is just entertainment.” – Tim Sanders

“Never let formal education get in the way of your learning.” – Mark Twain

Related: Walt Disney Quotes

“The whole purpose of education is to turn mirrors into windows.” – Sydney J. Harris

“A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies. The man who never reads lives only one.” – George R.R. Martin

“Who questions much, shall learn much, and retain much.” – Francis Bacon

“Education is the best friend. An educated person is respected everywhere. Education beats the beauty and the youth.” – Chanakya

“A good education is a foundation for a better future.” – Elizabeth Warren

“A man who carries a cat by the tail learns something he can learn in no other way.” – Mark Twain

“You learn something every day if you pay attention.” – Ray LeBlond

“School exams are memory tests, in the real world no one is going to stop you from referring to a book to solve a problem.” – Amit Kalantri

“Intelligence is the ability to adapt to change.” – Stephen Hawking

“You cannot open a book without learning something.” – Confucius

“Teachers open the door, but you must enter by yourself.” – Chinese Proverb

“The road to freedom –here and everywhere on earth-– begins in the classroom.” – Hubert Humphrey

“That is what learning is. You suddenly understand something you’ve understood all your life, but in a new way.” – Doris Lessing

“The cure for boredom is curiosity. There is no cure for curiosity.” – Dorothy Parker

“The whole world opened to me when I learned to read.” – Mary McLeod Bethune

“The task of the modern educator is not to cut down jungles, but to irrigate deserts.” – C. S. Lewis

“Education is a once in a lifetime opportunity to open children’s hearts and minds to the unbelievable wonder of the universe.” – Sir Anthony Seldon

“Anyone who has begun to think places some portion of the world in jeopardy.” – John Dewey

“All of the top achievers I know are life-long learners. Looking for new skills, insights, and ideas. If they’re not learning, they’re not growing and not moving toward excellence.” – Denis Waitley

“The real key to learning something quickly is to take a deliberate, intelligent approach to your learning.” – Lindsay Kolowich

“Wisdom is not a product of schooling but of the lifelong attempt to acquire it.” – Albert Einstein

“Education is helping the child realize his potentialities.” – Eric Fromm

“Education is the great engine to personal development.” – Nelson Mandela

“Education is one thing no one can take away from you.” – Elin Nordegren

“All of life is a constant education.” – Eleanor Roosevelt

“It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.” – Aristotle

“Education is the power to think clearly, the power to act well in the world’s work, and the power to appreciate life.” – Brigham Young

“Nothing is a waste of time if you use the experience wisely.” – Auguste Rodin

“The aim of education is the knowledge, not of facts, but of values.” – William Burroughs

“Intelligence plus character-that is the goal of true education.” – Martin Luther King Jr.

“Learning is a treasure that will follow its owner everywhere.” – Chinese Proverb

“You’ll never know everything about anything, especially something you love.” – Julia Child

“Education should not be reading about the past rather it should be about addressing the present.” – Rajesh Walecha

“Take what you learn and make a difference with it.” – Tony Robbins

“A human being is not attaining his full heights until he is educated.” – Horace Mann

“Learn as if you were not reaching your goal and as though you were scared of missing it.” – Confucius

“Life is an open book test. Learning how to learn is your most valuable skill in the online world.” – Marc Cuban

“Nine-tenths of education is encouragement.” – Anatole France

“Intelligence and education that hasn’t been tempered by human affection isn’t worth a damn.” – Daniel Keyes

“Education is a progressive discovery of our own ignorance.” – Will Durant

“Every student can learn, just not on the same day, or the same way.” – George Evans

“We learned about honesty and integrity – that the truth matters… that you don’t take shortcuts or play by your own set of rules… and success doesn’t count unless you earn it fair and square.” – Michelle Obama

“It’s not that I’m so smart, it’s just that I stay with problems longer.” – Albert Einstein

“If you think education is expensive, try ignorance.” – Andy McIntyre

“Education consists mainly of what we have unlearned.” – Mark Twain

“It’s what you learn after you know it all that counts.” – John Wooden

“Success is getting what you want. Happiness is wanting what you get.” – Dale Carnegie

“Education around entrepreneurship should start early, at secondary level, and be very robust by college level.” – Stephen A. Schwarzman

“I never teach my pupils, I only attempt to provide the conditions in which they can learn.” – Albert Einstein

“The goal of education is to enable individuals to continue their education.” – John Dewey

“Only the educated are free.” – Epictetus

“The difference between school and life? In school, you’re taught a lesson and then given a test. In life, you’re given a test that teaches you a lesson.” – Tom Bodett

“When you study great teachers… you will learn much more from their caring and hard work than from their style.” – William Glasser

“They cannot stop me. I will get my education if it is in the home, school, or any place.” – Malala Yousafzai

“The learned man knows that he is ignorant.” – Victor Hugo

“The first problem for all of us, men and women, is not to learn, but to unlearn.” – Gloria Steinem

“School is the path, not the point.” – Will Richardson

“I like a teacher who gives you something to take home to think about besides homework.” – Lily Tomlin

“We now accept the fact that learning is a lifelong process of keeping abreast of change. And the most pressing task is to teach people how to learn.” – Peter Drucker

“Education is the transmission of civilization.” – Will Durant

“Learn as much as you can while you are young, since life becomes too busy later” – Dana Stewart Scott

“Educating all of our children must be one of our most urgent priorities.” – Nelson Mandela

“All of us must cross the line between ignorance and insight many times before we truly understand.” – David Hawkins

“You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself in any direction you choose.” – Dr. Seuss

“Education is the ability to listen to almost anything without losing your temper or your self-confidence.” – Robert Frost

“Study hard what interests you the most in the most undisciplined, irreverent and original manner possible.” – Richard Feynman

“Learning is not the product of teaching. Learning is the product of the activity of learners.” – John Holt

“Time is the best teacher, but unfortunately, it kills all of its students.” – Robin Williams

“Education is not the filling of a pot but the lighting of a fire.” – W.B. Yeats

“If we want our children to value education, then we must show our appreciation for knowledge.” – Brad Sherman

“We all know that education, more than anything else, improves your chances of building better lives.” – Nelson Mandela

“I agree that a love of reading is a great gift for a parent to pass on to his or her child.” – Ann Brashares

“Formal education will make you a living; self-education will make you a fortune.” – Jim Rohn

“The great aim of education is not knowledge but action.” – Herbert Spencer

“The learning process continues until the day you die.” – Kirk Douglas

“The beautiful thing about learning is that no one can take it away from you.” – B.B.King

“I am always doing that which I can not do, in order that I may learn how to do it.” – Pablo Picasso

“Education is everything- education is your power, education is your way in life for whatever you want to do.” – Ciara

“It is impossible to begin to learn that which one thinks one already knows.” – Epictetus

“Do not read as children do to enjoy themselves, or, as the ambitious do to educate themselves. No, read to live.” – Gustave Flaubert

“No child in Africa, and in fact anywhere in the world, should be denied education.” – Nelson Mandela

“All the world is a laboratory to the inquiring mind.” – Martin Fisher

“Curiosity is the wick in the candle of learning.” – William Arthur Ward

“Education is not preparation for life; education is life itself.” – John Dewey

“All things good to know are difficult to learn.” – Greek proverb

“Do not be embarrassed by your failures, learn from them and start again.” – Richard Branson

“Real learning comes about when the competitive spirit has ceased.” – Jiddu Krishnamurti

“There is no school equal to a decent home and no teacher equal to a virtuous parent.” – Mahatma Gandhi

“The aim of education should be to teach us rather how to think, than what to think — rather to improve our minds, so as to enable us to think for ourselves, than to load the memory with thoughts of other men.” – Bill Beattie

“To delight in literature is to desire to learn.” – Lailah Gifty Akita

“The man who reads nothing at all is better educated than the man who reads nothing but newspapers.” – Thomas Jefferson

“Life is a succession of lessons which must be lived to be understood.” – Helen Keller

“A teacher is one who makes himself progressively unnecessary.” – Thomas Carruthers

“The aim of education is the condition of suspended judgment on everything.” – George Santayana

“Let’s recommit to work towards our common goal: a nation where all of us are winners, all of us have shelter, food, and education.” – Nelson Mandela

“The ladder of success is best climbed by stepping on the rungs of opportunity.” – Ayn Rand

“No country can really develop unless its citizens are educated.” – Nelson Mandela

“I think you learn more if you’re laughing at the same time.” – Mary Ann Shaffer & Annie Barrows

“A man only learns in two ways, one by reading, and the other by association with smarter people.” – Will Rogers

“The only place success comes before work is in the dictionary.” – Vince Lombardi

More Good Quotes for Kids:

• 74 Famous Black History Month Quotes
• 13 Inspiring Shel Silverstein Quotes & Poems
• 37 Winnie the Pooh Quotes to Cherish

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School's out

A critical take on education and schooling

The 50 great books on education

Professor of Education, University of Derby

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I have often argued that I would not let any teacher into a school unless – as a minimum – they had read, carefully and well, the three great books on education: Plato’s Republic, Rousseau’s Émile and Dewey’s Democracy and Education. There would be no instrumental purpose in this, but the struggle to understand these books and the thinking involved in understanding them would change teachers and ultimately teaching.

These are the three great books because each is sociologically whole. They each present a description and arguments for an education for a particular and better society. You do not have to agree with these authors. Plato’s tripartite education for a just society ruled over by philosopher kings; Rousseau’s education through nature to establish the social contract and Dewey’s relevant, problem-solving democratic education for a democratic society can all be criticised. That is not the point. The point is to understand these great works. They constitute the intellectual background to any informed discussion of education.

What of more modern works? I used to recommend the “blistering indictment” of the flight from traditional liberal education that is Melanie Phillips’s All Must Have Prizes, to be read alongside Tom Bentley’s Learning Beyond the Classroom: Education for a Changing World, which is a defence of a wider view of learning for the “learning age”. These two books defined the debate in the 1990s between traditional education by authoritative teachers and its rejection in favour of a new learning in partnership with students.

Much time and money is spent on teacher training and continuing professional development and much of it is wasted. A cheaper and better way of giving student teachers and in-service teachers an understanding of education would be to get them to read the 50 great works on education.

The books I have identified, with the help of members of the Institute of Ideas’ Education Forum, teachers and colleagues at several universities, constitute an attempt at an education “canon”.

What are “out” of my list are textbooks and guides to classroom practice. What are also “out” are novels and plays. But there are some great literary works that should be read by every teacher: Charles Dicken’s Hard Times – for Gradgrind’s now much-needed celebration of facts; D. H. Lawrence’s The Rainbow – for Ursula Brangwen’s struggle against her early child-centred idealism in the reality of St Philips School; and Alan Bennett’s The History Boys – for Hector’s role as the subversive teacher committed to knowledge.

I hope I have produced a list of books, displayed here in alphabetical order, that are held to be important by today’s teachers. I make no apology for including the book I wrote with Kathryn Ecclestone, The Dangerous Rise of Therapeutic Education because it is an influential critical work that has produced considerable controversy. If you disagree with this, or any other of my choices, please add your alternative “canonical” books on education.

Michael W. Apple – Official Knowledge: Democratic Education in a Conservative Age (1993)

Hannah Arendt – Between Past and Future (1961), for the essay “The Crisis in Education” (1958)

Matthew Arnold – Culture and Anarchy (1867-9)

Robin Barrow – Giving Teaching Back to the Teachers (1984)

Tom Bentley – Learning Beyond The Classroom: Education for a Changing World (1998)

Allan Bloom – The Closing of the American Mind: How Higher Education Has Failed Democracy and Impoverished the Souls of Today’s Students (1987)

Pierre Bourdieu and Jean-Claude Passeron – Reproduction in Education, Society and Culture (1977)

Samuel Bowles and Herbert Gintis – Schooling in Capitalist America: Educational Reform and the Contradictions of Economic Life (1976)

Jerome Bruner – The Process of Education (1960)

John Dewey – Democracy and Education (1916)

Margaret Donaldson – Children’s Minds (1978)

JWB Douglas – The Home and the School (1964)

Kathryn Ecclestone and Dennis Hayes – The Dangerous Rise of Therapeutic Education (2008)

Harold Entwistle – Antonio Gramsci: Conservative Schooling for Radical Politics (1979).

Paulo Freire – Pedagogy of the Oppressed (1968/1970)

Frank Furedi – Wasted: Why Education Isn’t Educating (2009)

Helene Guldberg – Reclaiming Childhood (2009)

ED Hirsch Jnr. – The Schools We Need And Why We Don’t Have Them (1999)

Paul H Hirst – Knowledge and the Curriculum (1974) For the essay which appears as Chapter 3 ‘Liberal Education and the Nature of Knowledge’ (1965)

John Holt – How Children Fail (1964)

Eric Hoyle – The Role of the Teacher (1969)

James Davison Hunter – The Death of Character: Moral Education in an Age without Good or Evil (2000)

Ivan Illich – Deschooling Society (1971)

Nell Keddie (Ed.) – Tinker, Taylor: The Myth of Cultural Deprivation (1973)

John Locke – Some Thoughts Concerning Education (1692)

John Stuart Mill – Autobiography (1873)

Sybil Marshall – An Experiment in Education (1963)

Alexander Sutherland Neil – Summerhill: A Radical Approach to Child Rearing (1960)

John Henry Newman – The Idea of a University (1873)

Michael Oakeshott – The Voice of Liberal Learning (1989) In particular for the essay “Education: The Engagement and Its Frustration” (1972)

Anthony O’ Hear – Education, Society and Human Nature: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Education (1981)

Richard Stanley Peters – Ethics and Education (1966)

Melanie Phillips – All Must Have Prizes (1996)

Plato – The Republic (366BC?)

Plato – Protagoras (390BC?) and Meno (387BC?)

Neil Postman – The End of Education: Redefining the Value of School (1995)

Neil Postman and Charles Weingartner – Teaching as a Subversive Activity (1969)

Herbert Read – Education Through Art (1943)

Carl Rogers – Freedom to Learn: A View of What Education Might Become (1969)

Jean-Jacques Rousseau – Émile or “on education” (1762)

Bertrand Russell – On Education (1926)

Israel Scheffler – The Language of Education (1960)

Brian Simon – Does Education Matter? (1985) Particularly for the paper “Why No Pedagogy in England?” (1981)

JW Tibble (Ed.) – The Study of Education (1966)

Lev Vygotsky – Thought and Language (1934/1962)

Alfred North Whitehead – The Aims of Education and other essays (1929)

Paul E. Willis – Learning to Labour: How Working Class Kids Get Working Class Jobs (1977)

Alison Wolf – Does Education Matter? Myths about Education and Economic Growth (2002)

Michael FD Young (Ed) – Knowledge and Control: New Directions for the Sociology of Education (1971)

Michael FD Young – Bringing Knowledge Back In: From Social Constructivism to Social Realism in the Sociology of Education (2007)

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14 Quotes from Einstein on Education (with Sources)

On Schooling:   ‘’It is nothing short of a miracle that modern methods of instruction have not yet entirely strangled the holy curiosity of inquiry. ’’  [quoted in The New York Times , March 13 1949, p. 34].

On Imagination: ‘ ’Knowledge is limited.  Imagination encircles the world. ’’ [quoted in “What Life Means to Einstein: An Interview by George Sylvester Viereck” Saturday Evening Post , October 26th, 1929, p. 11].

On Love of Learning : ’I have no special talent. I am only passionately curious .’’ [quoted in Walter Isaacson, Einstein: His Life and Universe , p. 548].

On Creativity: ‘’It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge.’ ‘ [quoted in Alice Calaprice, The Ultimate Quotable Einstein , p. 100].

On Play : “The desire to arrive finally at logically connected concepts is the emotional basis of a vague play with basic ideas. . . . . this combinatory or associative play seems to be the essential feature in productive thought.”   [quoted in Jacques Hadamard, An Essay on the Psychology of Invention in the Mathematical Field , Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1945, p. 142].

On Curiosity : “The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existence. One cannot help but be in awe when he contemplates the mysteries of eternity, of life, of the marvelous structure of reality. It is enough if one tries merely to comprehend a little of this mystery each day. Never lose a holy curiosity.’’  [quoted in, ‘’Death of a Genius–Old Man’s Advice to Youth: ‘Never Lose a Holy Curiosity,’’ Life Magazine 38, no. 18, (May 2, 1955): p. 64].

On Wonder: ”The most beautiful emotion we can experience is the mysterious. It is the fundamental emotion that stands at the cradle of all true art and science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead, a snuffled-out candle.”  [quoted in Walter Isaacson, Einstein: His Life and Universe , p. 387].

On Individuality:   ”The development of general ability for independent thinking and judgment should always be placed foremost, not the acquisition of special knowledge. . .”   [quoted in Albert Einstein, Ideas and Opinions , Broadway Books, p. 64].

On Neurodiversity : His son, Albert Einstein Jr. wrote: ” [Einstein] was . . . considered backward by his teachers. He told me that his teachers reported to his father that he was mentally slow, unsociable and adrift forever in his foolish dreams .” [quoted in Victor Goertzel and Mildred G. Goertzel, Cradles of Eminence, p. 248.

On Compassion:   ‘’ Our task must be to free ourselves from our prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all humanity and the whole of nature in its beauty .’’  [quoted in Walter Sullivan, ‘’The Einstein Papers: A Man of Many Parts,’’ The New York Times , March 29, 1972, p. 20].

On Care for Nature :  ” In every true searcher of Nature there is a kind of religious reverence .”  [quoted in The Ultimate Quotable Einstein , p. 32].

On Tolerance :  ‘’ Laws alone can not secure freedom of expression; in order that every man present his views without penalty there must be spirit of tolerance in the entire population. ’’ [quoted in The Ultimate Quotable Einstein , p. 297].

On Beauty:   ‘’ To sense that behind anything that can be experienced there is something that our minds cannot grasp, whose beauty and sublimity reaches us only indirectly; this is religiousness. In this sense, and in this sense only, I am a devoutly religious man .”  [quoted in Walter Isaacson, Einstein: His Life and Universe , p. 387].

On Education:   ‘’ The wit was not wrong who defined education in this way: ‘Education is that which remains, if one has forgotten everything he learned in school .’’ [quoted in Albert Einstein, Ideas and Opinions , p. 63].

This page was brought to you by Thomas Armstrong, Ph.D. and www.institute4learning.com .

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True and Honest Men

By their wisdom and justice, by the purity and benevolence of their daily life, by their devotion to the interests of the people,—and they, idolaters,—Joseph and Daniel proved themselves true to the principles of their early training, true to Him whose representatives they were. These men, both in Egypt and in Babylon, the whole nation honored; and in them a heathen people, and all the nations with which they were connected, beheld an illustration of the goodness and beneficence of God, an illustration of the love of Christ. Ed 56.2

What a lifework was that of these noble Hebrews! As they bade farewell to their childhood home, how little did they dream of their high destiny! Faithful and steadfast, they yielded themselves to the divine guiding, so that through them God could fulfill His purpose. Ed 57.1

The same mighty truths that were revealed through these men, God desires to reveal through the youth and the children of today. The history of Joseph and Daniel is an illustration of what He will do for those who yield themselves to Him and with the whole heart seek to accomplish His purpose. Ed 57.2

The greatest want of the world is the want of men—men who will not be bought or sold, men who in their inmost souls are true and honest, men who do not fear to call sin by its right name, men whose conscience is as true to duty as the needle to the pole, men who will stand for the right though the heavens fall. Ed 57.3

But such a character is not the result of accident; it is not due to special favors or endowments of Providence. A noble character is the result of self-discipline, of the subjection of the lower to the higher nature—the surrender of self for the service of love to God and man. Ed 57.4

The youth need to be impressed with the truth that their endowments are not their own. Strength, time, intellect, are but lent treasures. They belong to God, and it should be the resolve of every youth to put them to the highest use. He is a branch, from which God expects fruit; a steward, whose capital must yield increase; a light, to illuminate the world's darkness. Ed 57.5

Every youth, every child, has a work to do for the honor of God and the uplifting of humanity. Ed 58.1

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Bill Gates thinks you should read this new book to get smarter on how AI will transform education

• Bill Gates has taken to social media to tout a new book focused on AI and education.
• The book is authored by Salman Khan, the founder and CEO of the educational platform Khan Academy.
• Gates has been optimistic about AI's impact on education but says we'll still need teachers. 

Bill Gates , the Microsoft cofounder and renowned bookworm , has taken to social media to share his latest book recommendation.

Gates touted the book, "Brave New Words: How AI Will Revolutionize Education (and Why That's a Good Thing)," by Salman Khan, the founder and CEO of Khan Academy , an educational nonprofit that aims to provide free learning resources.

The book charts how advances in AI will transform education and offers a guidebook for teachers, parents, and students to navigate changes in this "new world," the book description reads.

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"If you're passionate about education, you need to read this book." Gates wrote on X . "Sal offers a compelling vision for harnessing AI to expand opportunity for all."

Khan is familiar with the intersection of AI and education ; his company is building its own educational chatbot, Khanmigo. It aims to assist students in a variety of subjects, including math, computer science, and writing.

He spoke on the topic in a TED Talk last year. "I think we're at the cusp of using AI for probably the biggest positive transformation that education has ever seen," he said. "The way we're going to do that is by giving every student on the planet an artificially intelligent, but amazing, personal tutor."

Gates has also been optimistic about AI's role in education . He published a letter last year full of his AI predictions , one of which was that in the next five to 10 years, AI could start delivering educational content tailored to a student's learning style.

But while he said that teachers likely wouldn't become redundant, they might need to learn how to adapt to the new technology.

"It will enhance — but never replace — the work that students and teachers do together in the classroom," he wrote .

Watch: Microsoft CEO unravels ChatGPT, ethical AI, and going bust

• Main content

To Really Use Your Data, Think Outside Your School

• Posted May 30, 2024
• By Lory Hough
• Career and Lifelong Learning
• K-12 System Leadership
• Organizational Change

When the Ed School’s Data Wise Project decided to publish a book nearly 20 years ago offering a step-by-step process for using data to improve teaching and learning in schools, their target audience was clear: educators in schools. The project had no intention of scaling the work beyond that group.

But eventually, something else became clear: While the Data Wise book and the initial data-related course they offered were huge hits, educators wanted — and needed — more guidance as they worked toward better serving students. Additional books followed, plus a group of professional learning offerings , ranging from a massive open online course (MOOC) to a coach certification program. 

“We put Data Wise out into the world and were very heartened by the reception of school-based people feeling like, oh, this is a model that can help me do my work better,” says Kathy Boudett , director of the Data Wise Project and a senior lecturer at the Ed School. “But pretty quickly, people at the system level who were supporting schools started asking, ‘What’s our role in modeling this work and supporting schools in doing it well?’”

To help answer these questions, the Data Wise Project staff decided it was time to capture what they’ve learned from working with systems, not just educators in schools, in a new book, out this month through Harvard Education Press called System Wise: Continuous Educational Improvement at Scale . Written by Adam Parrott-Sheffer, Ed.M.’09, Ed.L.D.’20; Carmen Williams, Ed.L.D.’22; David Rease, Jr., Ed.L.D.’14; and Boudett, System Wise extends the Data Wise process from individual classrooms and schools to broader educational contexts for educators at any level. Plans are also underway to launch the first System Wise Leadership Institute, which will take place in May 2025. 

One of the challenges that all system-level leaders face is how to think about scale. The Data Wise team was no different. When they attended the Scaling for Impact institute at the Ed School, “It was like someone turned on the lights,” they write in System Wise . “Until then, we had understood scaling to be about getting bigger, and we were hesitant to embrace growth for growth’s sake. Discovering that scaling could involve depth, sustainability, spread, shift, and evolution helped us to see that scaling didn’t mean we needed to water down our model in an effort to serve more people. In System Wise , we share this learning.”

That original model includes allowing educators to build the skills necessary for looking at data, identifying a problem, coming up with an action plan, and then assessing how well the plan is working to improve student learning. It lets educators dig deep and look not just at numbers, but also teaching practices. Team leaders, principals, and district administrators become “system wise” when, as the book points out, they cultivate the “ACE habits of mind” around action, collaboration, and evidence.

Williams, a school assistant superintendent of instruction and innovation and co-chair of the Data Wise in Action Program , says the ACE habits come from the Data Wise book, but they have evolved.

"What we’ve been able to do is talk about how critical practicing those [habits] are to building a culture around data,” she said in an interview with Harvard Education Press, the publisher of Data Wise and System Wise . “It’s not just doing Data Wise, it's being Data Wise. The Ace Habits of Mind help us to shift our mindsets, but also our orientation to the work of improvement cycles. I think that’s a game changer when you're at the system level because, typically, a system leader gives a directive and someone else follows it. If there's going to be a culture change, everyone is going to be rowing in the same direction. By committing to the Ace Habits of Mind, that's kind of the anchor for how we can all move together and have a rhythm. If we’re speaking the same language and we have the same mindsets, then at every level of the organization we’re deepening our practice around data.”

Each chapter of System Wise starts out with a question, such as, “What counts as data?” and “Do we see each learner first through their strengths?” which are designed to support taking an equity lens. Chapters also include case studies, planning checklists, implementation templates, and a discussion of what the approach looks like at each step. Parrott-Sheffer says the book allows readers to jump in at any point.

“We really think as you read System Wise, you’ll be like, ‘Hey, I'm at a stage where I'm trying to figure out what to focus on, so I might start at the beginning.’ You might already have a strategic plan you’ve built and you’re going to start with step six and seven, more towards the middle of the book, because that’s going to be most applicable. The nice thing about continuous improvement is you can join the carousel anywhere and it’s going to get you into the feedback loop.”

The work is also very student centered. Rease, director of equity, diversity, and belonging in Prince George’s County Public Schools in Maryland, points to chapter two of the book, where Jorge, an educator in Illinois, talks about how they were not setting high expectations for immigrant students in their district. As his system engaged in the improvement process, they realized they had “been doing school in the same way” and, with this new group of students, what they were doing might be harmful. “The System Wise approach created an opportunity for that reflection to happen,” Rease says, “so that people could start behaving differently and really assess their values.”

Another key aspect of the System Wise book, Williams says, is its focus on community.

“There are going to be people who pick this book up and feel affirmed because they’re already doing some of the practices,” she says. “The missing piece, though, might be how do you know to what level? To what end are you producing what you really want to produce? That’s where the value of reading this book and doing this book in community comes in. It’s just like a workout with a trainer. You can walk on the treadmill at a pace, but you might need someone else to say, ‘I bet you can go faster. I bet we can go longer.’ Reading this book and living this book in community is where you’re going to get the best results.”

The latest research, perspectives, and highlights from the Harvard Graduate School of Education

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New Book by Lou Guard Unveils the Intensifying Legal Landscape in Higher Education

By chris brouwer.

A groundbreaking new book by Lou Guard ’12, adjunct professor at Cornell Law School, and Joyce Jacobsen, former president of Hobart and William Smith Colleges, grapples with the unprecedented legal challenges that have reshaped university governance and administrative strategies in recent years. On April 15, members of the Cornell Law community gathered in the MacDonald Moot Court Room for a thought-provoking discussion that marked the release of  All the Campus Lawyers: Litigation, Regulation, and the New Era of Higher Education.

Moderated by Kristen Underhill, associate dean for faculty research at Cornell Law School, the event featured a distinguished panel that included David Wippman, president of Hamilton College; Barbara A. Lee, editor of the  Journal of College and University Law  and distinguished professor at Rutgers University; and Risa Lieberwitz, professor of labor and employment law at Cornell University’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations. The ensuing discussion among the panelists underscored the critical role of legal counsel in steering educational institutions through an era of heightened regulatory and litigation pressures.

Lou Guard, vice president and general counsel of Hobart and William Smith Colleges, shared his insights and motivations behind the creation of the book. “Most of the headline news coming out of higher education is related to the law or to some explicit or underlying legal issue in some way,” said Guard. “We argue that in the past ten to fifteen years this has grown in intensity.”  By highlighting these trends, he aims to foster a greater understanding and proactive management of legal issues within higher education, encouraging a broader dialogue among stakeholders to better anticipate and respond to these challenges. “If there’s one thing that I want to do in the book, it’s to open up a discourse and to broaden this,” he said. “I want to get these conversations going.”

Barbara A. Lee delved into the evolution of the university legal counsel’s role, discussing the balancing act required to navigate a complex array of civil rights, free speech, and employment law challenges, while still fostering an environment conducive to education and inquiry. Her insights emphasized the critical importance of legal strategies that support rather than undermine the foundational values of higher education.

“This book is an honest assessment and description of the role of general counsel [in higher education] and it could not have come at a better time,” said Lee. “The university counsel is right smack in the middle of all of these difficulties and they have to deal with more issues than ever and not just in numbers but in complexity. To call this book timely is a huge understatement.”

Risa Lieberwitz emphasized the balance between preemptive legal strategies and their potential to either support or undermine the educational mission, highlighting the constant challenge faced in aligning legal actions with institutional values.

“This contradiction between the prevention of problems and addressing risks ahead of time and not interfering with or undermining the mission, there’s the rub,” said Lieberwitz.  “We know that this danger of this contradiction is true in times of heightened tension as we’ve been experiencing over the past six months and as my colleagues have referred to. But this danger is also true at other perhaps calmer times where higher education institutions adopt policies and practices that serve goals that undermine the public mission of higher education institutions.”

David Wippman, brought a unique administrative perspective to the panel, illuminating the tangible impacts of the “lawyerization” of higher education as discussed in the book. Reflecting on his experiences, Wippman highlighted the shift towards legal and regulatory frameworks that now dictate many aspects of university operation. “The lawyerization that the book talks about and that it chronicles so effectively is real,” Wippman remarked, emphasizing the increasing legal entanglements that command his daily attention as a college president. He shared how this evolution has necessitated a strategic realignment at Hamilton College, where legal considerations now permeate decisions once made primarily on educational grounds. His insights underlined the practical challenges and the necessity for adaptive legal strategies that can safeguard institutional values while complying with burgeoning legal requirements.

All the Campus Lawyers  provides a vital, up-to-date assessment of the impact of legal concerns on higher education and is a crucial resource for university administrators, legal counsel, and policymakers engaged in the academic sector.

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Can a great love story also be a great political novel?

Gustave Flaubert’s classic, “Sentimental Education,” tracks the amorous adventures of an ambitious young man in a fraught time surprisingly like our own.

Late May, with June weddings in the offing — this is love’s own sweet season, the time of year when people decide to reread “Pride and Prejudice.” Even though Jane Austen’s wit and psychological insight can be pitiless, that masterpiece remains one of literature’s sunniest, happiest books, complete with a fairy-tale ending. Still, the chief fact about love is that most of the time it doesn’t work out. For more realistic accounts of its passion and anguish, you need to turn to French fiction.

All the darker aspects of love can be found there: brokenhearted renunciation in Madame de Lafayette’s “The Princess of Cleves”; coldly calculated seduction in Pierre Choderlos de Laclos’s “Les Liaisons Dangereuses”; erotic weariness in Benjamin Constant’s “Adolphe”; the torments of jealousy in Marcel Proust’s “In Search of Lost Time.” To this list, one should add Gustave Flaubert’s “ Sentimental Education ,” the story of a young man’s lifelong infatuation with a married woman, now newly and superbly translated, introduced and annotated by Raymond N. MacKenzie, a professor of English at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minn. While aspects of the book call to mind a male version of “Madame Bovary” (1857), it is far more ambitious in every way.

Published in 1869 in two volumes, the novel begins in 1850 when the 18-year-old Frédéric Moreau is returning by paddle-wheel from Paris to his provincial home in Nogent. Flaubert’s descriptions of the passing landscape evoke a world of calm and timeless rural beauty, until they are grossly interrupted when Frédéric notices a middle-age passenger flirting with a peasant girl, “his hand continually toying with a gold cross she wore across her breast.” A second, more important interruption occurs when Frédéric follows the man — his name is Jacques Arnoux — into the first-class lounge. At this point, Flaubert’s narrative pauses for a rare one-sentence paragraph: “It was like an apparition.”

The apparition — “wearing a big straw hat with pink ribbons that fluttered in the breeze behind her” — turns out to be Arnoux’s wife. Her hair is black and her skin dark, so that Frédéric thinks she might be Andalusian or even Creole. We never learn her exact age, but at this time she seems to be in her mid- to late 20s. Though her first name is Marie, the text always identifies her as simply Madame Arnoux.

Following this coup de foudre, Frédéric begins his pursuit of this virtuous, placidly beautiful woman by making friends with her vulgar, glad-handing husband. Jacques oversees a periodical devoted to the arts and operates a shady business in forged paintings. While he loves his wife and their little daughter in his fashion, he leaves them alone most evenings to dine out with cronies or spend time with his mistress Rosanette. Before long, Frédéric — who moves to Paris ostensibly to study law — has become one of his bosom buddies.

As the novel proceeds, Flaubert gradually expands its cast of important characters — there are at least 20 — to depict a significant cross-section of mid-19th-century Parisian society. These include Frédéric’s childhood friend Deslauriers, who dreams of editing a newspaper and becoming a power in the land; Sénécal, a fire-breathing socialist and would-be revolutionary; Pellerin, a painter who constantly likens his own work to that of the Old Masters; the writer Hussonnet, who claims that Balzac was overrated and Victor Hugo didn’t know the first thing about theater; and the ultrawealthy Monsieur Dambreuse. All these men, as well as Frédéric himself, will betray their ideals and one another.

While Frédéric’s on-again, off-again pursuit of the lonely Madame Arnoux drives “Sentimental Education,” Flaubert frames it with one of the most savage portraits of modern society and politics ever written. Employing pervasive irony and a characteristically impassive narrative voice, he presents the age as one of universal prostitution, a time when people do almost anything to gain, or preserve, money and power. Monsieur Dambreuse can stand as a representative example: “At different times he had lauded Napoleon, the Cossacks, Louis XVIII, 1830, the workers, all the different regimes, always worshiping Power, so much so that he would have paid for the privilege of selling himself.”

That last phrase suggests just how deeply contemporary this novel feels. Along with Madame Arnoux, who remains something of a cipher, the only truly admirable people in its many pages are a worker named Dussardier, who dies a Christ-like martyr to republican ideals; the abused courtesan Rosanette, who was sold at age 15 by her own mother; and, to some extent, a wealthy provincial girl named Louise Roque, who naively adores the shallow Frédéric. Shallow? In fact, “Sentimental Education” could easily bear the same subtitle as Thackeray’s “Vanity Fair,” which it somewhat resembles: “A novel without a hero.”

Almost soap-operatic in its abundance and variety of incident, this unrelenting indictment of modernity features orgiastic dinner parties, a duel, an altered will, lawsuits, a bankruptcy auction, a visit to the chateau of Fontainebleau, gushy romantic effusions, murder, the death of a baby and, not least, the revolution of 1848, which overthrew the reign of Louis Philippe for a short-lived republic, followed by a reactionary backlash in 1851 that brought Napoleon III to power. To Flaubert, though, the masses and the elites in this time of upheaval are equally brutish, and “the fanaticism of the wealthy counterbalanced the fury of the poor.”

He spares almost no one. At grand dinners, rich old men converse in platitudes and are married to wives “who could have passed for their granddaughters.” All of them, Flaubert writes, “would have sold out France or even the whole human race to protect their own fortunes, to spare themselves the least discomfort or difficulty, or simply out of sheer baseness, out of their instinctive worship of Power.” When the revolution appears a success, Monsieur Dambreuse suddenly claims to have always been a republican at heart, really a man of the people, despite his immense wealth. He even commissions a painting from Pellerin: “It represented the Republic, or perhaps Progress, or Civilization, in the figure of Jesus Christ driving a locomotive through a virgin forest.”

In Flaubert’s view, the rioters in the streets are equally disgusting. Mouthing political clichés, a crowd storms the palace and invades the royal chambers. Amid the chaos and violence, “a working-class man with a black beard sat on the throne, his shirt half open, clearly thinking this was hilarious.” At the same time, “ex-convicts thrust their arms into the beds of princesses, rolling around on them as consolation for not being able to rape the women.”

In such a world, a woman’s beauty or wealth alone matters. While Frédéric maintains that his heart belongs to Madame Arnoux, that doesn’t prevent him from toying with heiress Louise Roque’s affections or carrying on simultaneous affairs with both pretty Rosanette and the icily calculating Madame Dambreuse. He grows utterly shameless: “He repeated to one the solemn oath he had just made to the other, sent them similar bouquets, wrote to them both at the same time.” Worse still, to win Madame Dambreuse as his mistress, “he made new use of his old love. He described for her all the feelings Madame Arnoux had inspired in him, but pretended that she was the cause of them, all those languors, those fears, those dreams.” Can betrayal sink further?

Oh, yes it can. For this “moral history of the men of my generation” — as Flaubert once called the book in a letter — depicts endless self-delusion in virtually all its characters, and in the worst of them a form of mediocrity that combines corruption, meanness and ineptitude. And yet, even though “Sentimental Education” can be slow-going, the book is far from depressing: Flaubert’s style really does seduce one by its beauty. Moreover, this great masterpiece, often undervalued, rises to a penultimate chapter you will never forget — the final meeting of Frédéric and Madame Arnoux in the autumn of their lives. It is one of the most perfectly written, emotionally powerful scenes in all fiction.

Sentimental Education

The Story of a Young Man

By Gaustave Flaubert, translated from French by Raymond N. MacKenzie

University of Minnesota. 480 pp. $19.95, paperback.

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Florida's book challenges were a prelude to national issue ahead of 2024 election

They say that education is at the heart of a strong democracy, but ahead of 2024’s presidential election, how and what students are taught in public schools has become a major political issue.

Few places is that more apparent than in Florida. Here, book challenges have led to the restriction of hundreds of titles from school district libraries and made even more headlines over the last two years.

You’ve probably seen school board meetings like these that made national headlines: Adults trying to remove books from school libraries and classrooms, often pushing long lists and demanding action. The fight has come mainly from conservative political groups, like Moms for Liberty. Their members often object to themes they find violent, lewd or pornographic, while other parents and educators push back.

Book bans in schools reach record high, report finds

Florida has become the epicenter of the book ban battle in the U.S. Last school year alone, the state says more than 1,200 objections resulted in nearly 400 book removals. According to First Amendment nonprofit PEN America , Florida leads the nation with over 40% of all book bans last year occurring in the Sunshine State’s K-12 classrooms.

Republicans like Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and the GOP-controlled legislature helped enable the book challenges. They crafted laws (HB 1557 / HB 1069 ) restricting public school “instruction” on gender and sexuality in grades K to 3, later expanding it through high school, with some exceptions.

Another law made it easier for parents or anyone else to challenge a book. Supporters have argued that too much inappropriate material is reaching young minds.

“That’s pornographic — why do we have that in a media center with 10-year-old students?” DeSantis said at a press conference in March of 2023. “It’s just wrong. A lot of parents now have been empowered to make sure these are appropriate environments.”

DeSantis has repeatedly cited questionable content found in grades as early as elementary. As justification, his communications team published this video with some of the most graphic examples. Many of the books were focused on LGBTQ+ inclusivity — but the governor labeled them an attempt at indoctrination over education.

“Parents look at that and they feel like they’re sending their kids to a place that is waging war against their own basic values,” said DeSantis. “We can’t have that in the state of Florida.”

Study shows banning books can boost demand and visibility

Those who feel the bans have gone too far said the graphic material is a very small portion of what’s now being questioned. Their focus has shifted to condemning what they see as overzealous censorship.

They point to places like Escambia County, which has had perhaps the highest number of challenges in the country. More than 200 books are currently being reviewed, including modern classics like "The Watchmen," "American Gods" and "The Handmaid’s Tale."

“They're fed up and tired of the culture wars,” said Rep. Anna Eskamani.

Eskamani, a Democratic state lawmaker in Florida, has been one of the most vocal critics of the book challenges. She’s voiced worry that schools and education are getting weakened by what she sees as the injection of a conservative ideology. She thinks voters are sick of it.

“I’m very hopeful that this year we'll see the demise of Moms for Liberty,” said Eskamani. “We'll see election results that speak to what we see in other states already, that we can go back to public education being an apolitical and foundational purpose for all of us.”

The issue has become a national one ahead of the 2024 election. Hundreds of books are now being challenged in states across the country as policies and concerns similar to those of Florida conservatives proliferate.

The American Library Association sounded the alarm with a recent report that showed 2023 brought the most book title challenges in its nearly 150-year history, with a 65% increase over 2022.

The ALA also documented its top 10 most challenged books of last year, most containing LGBTQ+ content. Topping the list, "Gender Queer: A Memoir." Its author, Maia Kobabe, penned an op-ed in The Washington Post , writing, “Schools are banning my book. But queer kids need queer stories.”

Libraries get insight on how censorship, library access impacts teens

Back in Florida, groups like the Florida Freedom to Read Project have sprung up to track the bans. The nonprofit regularly updates lists of books under threat. That’s as bookstores join the effort to push back. Some feature — or even specialize in — titles taken off Florida school shelves.

Rohi’s Readery in West Palm Beach is among them.

"We want to use these books as tools of empowerment, but instead, people are seeing them as a threat, which is not the case," said Pranati Kumar, who operates Rohi’s. "It's even sad that they're being called banned books because their intention, of these authors and illustrators, is to create liberation. It's to create opportunities for open engagement and conversation and learning of stories of others."

Critics of the bans have even scored what they consider a recent win. Gov. DeSantis signed a bill last month scaling back the scope of Florida’s book bans. The legislation limits challenges that non-parents can submit to one a month. DeSantis, however, blamed the change on “activists.”

“I think that will help short circuit these frivolous challenges because it's being done to create a narrative that somehow, my gosh, all these books are, quote, banned,” said DeSantis. “No book is banned in Florida. The most grotesque, pornographic books that are in schools that have been removed because they're not appropriate, you can go buy it at a bookstore.”

His comments mark the latest chapter in the book ban battle, which continues to rage in Florida and across the nation. But how it will end remains unwritten.

This story was originally published by Forrest Saunders at Scripps News Tampa.

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Latest LDS news: A Book of Mormon in the ‘language of the angels’

Also: what else relief society president camille johnson said in her motherhood speech; a deeper look at church growth; an interview with “idol” alum david archuleta; a historic church burns..

(Rick Bowmer | AP) The Book of Mormon is now available in a primary language for millions in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The Mormon Land newsletter is The Salt Lake Tribune’s weekly highlight reel of news in and about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Join us on Patreon and receive the full newsletter, podcast transcripts and access to all of our religion content — for as little as $3 a month.

A new translation

And it came to pass that millions of citizens in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where church membership is skyrocketing, now can read the Book of Mormon in their native tongue of Tshiluba .

It’s a primary Bantu language in the African nation. We’ll give you a taste so you can see why it is sometimes called the “language of the angels.”

Here is 1 Nephi 1:1 in English:

I, Nephi, having been born of goodly parents, therefore I was taught somewhat in all the learning of my father; and having seen many afflictions in the course of my days, nevertheless, having been highly favored of the Lord in all my days; yea, having had a great knowledge of the goodness and the mysteries of God, therefore I make a record of my proceedings in my days.

Sounds familiar, right?

Now read it, or try to, in Tshiluba :

Mema, Nefi, muikala muledibua kudi baledi bimpa, bua nanku mvua mulongeshibua kakesa mu dimanya dionsu dia tatuanyi; ne muikala mumona ntatu ya bungi mu matuku anyi, nansha nanku, muikala musuibua bikola kudi Mukalenga mu matuku anyi onsu; eyowa, muikala mupeta dimanya dikola dia buimpa ne dia malu masokoka a Nzambi, bua nanku ndi ngenza miandiku ya bienzedi bianyi mu matuku anyi.

(The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) Latter-day Saints in the Democratic Republic of Congo at the temple in the capital of Kinshasa. Millions there can now read the faith's signature scripture, the Book of Mormon, in their native Tshiluba.

Beautiful to your ear but foreign to your comprehension.

Go ahead and compare more of your favorite Book of Mormon verses by selecting from the contents page here . (You’ll note that the “adieu” in the last verse of Jacob 7 is the same in both languages. Of course, it’s a French word.)

What else the Relief Society president said

President Camille Johnson fired up long-smoldering debates within Latter-day Saint circles about women, careers, parenting and personal choice with her push to “prioritize motherhood .”

Here are samplings of what else the global head of the women’s Relief Society said in her May 3 speech at Brigham Young University:

• “I fear that sometimes we all look for answers from unreliable sources or fail to draw from the best sources — the prophet, the scriptures and the Spirit. We are accustomed to Google-search answers — quick and concise. We ask our question and get a prompt response, and if we don’t like the answer, we can scroll for an answer that suits us.”

• “What I have discovered in juggling my responsibilities is that establishing priorities is critical to success and happiness. Love of God and love of his children — first and second. My professional life as a lawyer was never in the top two. My work was a means to an end in blessing my family.”

(The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) President Camille Johnson, leader of the global Relief Society of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, speaks at Brigham Young University about the importance of motherhood.

• “What if I had stuck with my comfortable narrative [instead of accepting the assignment as Relief Society general president]? I would have enjoyed spending more time with my grandchildren, and I could have been assured the financial security I don’t presently enjoy. And I would have missed a soul-searching, stretching and faith-building experience. Uphill? Yes. Worth it? Oh, yes!”

• “If women cease to bear and nurture children, this mortal experience ends. It is vitally important, then, that women and men neither neglect nor dismiss the sacred responsibility of parenthood. … Children are vital to maintaining civilization. They are vital to the glorious plan of happiness.”

Read the full transcript of her 4,000-plus word address.

The latest ‘Mormon Land’ podcast: How and where the church is growing or shrinking

There is much to celebrate in the latest statistics in the global faith of 17.2 million members, but there also are areas of concern. We take a deep dive into where church membership is increasing and decreasing the most.

Listen to the podcast .

From The Tribune

(Shaun Vadella) Singer David Archuleta talks about his journey.

• Singing a new tune, pop star and former Latter-day Saint David Archuleta tells The Tribune he’s “trying to free myself and give myself the power to love myself and feel good in my own skin.”

• A boarded-up yet historic Latter-day Saint meetinghouse burns down just days before a planned demolition.

(Salt Lake City police) The historic Wells Ward in Salt Lake City is engulfed in flames.

• Thus saith the prophet vs. thus adviseth the governor. Latter-day Saint parents are bumping into conflicting guidance on social media use by teens .

(Illustration by Christopher Cherrington | The Salt Lake Tribune)

• Utah boasts more than 630 diocese-like stakes. Now it has its first — and likely not last — Spanish-speaking one.

• The church-owned Deseret News has gained its first female editor-in-chief .

(Deseret News) Sarah Jane Weaver, who spent decades at the Church News, has been made editor-in-chief of the Deseret News. She is the first woman to hold the position.

• Tribune columnist Gordon Monson ’s sorts Latter-day Saints into three groups: the Automatics, the Contemplatives, the Suspicious.

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