Bel Kaufman

"Teaching here isn't so bad. Once you accept as one of the ineluctable laws of nature that kids will continue to say "Silas Mariner" and "Ancient Marner" and "between you and I" and "mischievious" and …"

"When I had asked why they were taking English, a boy said: "To help us in real life."

"Why did you fail me? I didn't do nothing!" The reply, of course, is: "That's just it."

"Your lesson plan is excellent — except for the Emily Dickinson line: "There is no frigate like a book." The sentiment is lovely, the quotation is apt — only trouble is the word "frigate." Just try to …"

"Being a female, she spurns him on."

"Mythology is studied in the school system because most of us come from it."

"We got this jerky sub. she don't know a thing and she's trying to teach it."

"With me they get a solid foundation, the disciplines of learning. In my class they don't get away with hot air discussions and exchanging their opinions and describing their experiences. What opinions…"