"Teachers are expected to reach unattainable goals with inadequate tools. The miracle is that at times they accomplish this impossible task."

Haim Ginott Literature See all quotes by Haim Ginott →

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“I have come to the frightening conclusion that I am the decisive element in the classroom. It is my personal approach that creates the climate. It is my daily mood that makes the weather. As a teacher, I possess a tremendous power to make a child's life miserable or joyous. I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration. I can humiliate or humor, hurt or heal. In all situations, it is my response that decides whether a crisis will be escalated or de-escalated, a child humanized or de-humanized.”

“Children are like wet cement. Whatever falls on them makes an impression.”

“Treat a child as though he already is the person he's capable of becoming.”

Resonant Thoughts

"Instinctively we divide mankind into friends and foes - friends, towards whom we have the morality of co-operation; foes, towards whom we have that of competition. But this division is constantly chan…"

— Bertrand Russell

Philosophy1872–1970

#time

"Aristotle believed that the world did not come into being at some time in the past; it had always existed and it would always exist, unchanged in essence for ever. He placed a high premium on symmetry…"

— John D. Barrow

Science1952–2020

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"Every human being is tried this way in the active service of expectancy. Now comes the fulfillment and relieves him, but soon he is again placed on reconnaissance for expectancy; then he is again reli…"

— Søren Kierkegaard

Philosophy1813–1855

#time

"Brahmins cannot hope to claim a high and superior status forever. Times are changing. They have to come down. Then only they could survive with dignity. Otherwise they will one day be forfeiting their…"

— Periyar E. V. Ramasamy

Politics1879–1973

#justice