80 Teacher quotes to recognize their life-changing leadership.
The best teacher quotes to show thanks, celebrate retirement, and inspire those who forge the future.
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From teacher motivation to teacher appreciation quotes, you’ll find the perfect soundbite.
Teacher quotes come in all forms, from Teacher Appreciation Week quotes to motivational quotes that help a teacher push past a rough patch.
Learning, after all, doesn’t “just happen.” We don’t absorb information through osmosis. It’s the teachers of the world who build the future through their talent, dedication, and techniques.
Teachers’ impact lasts a lifetime, so it’s no wonder there are so many inspiring teacher quotes by history’s greats. Choose your favorites and use them in cards, on banners, and everywhere else you can dream up. It’s all easy in Adobe Express — no experience required.
Teacher appreciation quotes to send lasting thanks.
A good teacher can awaken curiosity and joy in a student, or even pave the way to that student’s true calling. The impression a teacher leaves on you can last a lifetime, and showing thanks in return can leave just as lasting a memory for that teacher.
For occasions like Teacher Appreciation Week, quotes like these put gratitude into memorable sound bites to use in cards, on posters, or even on banners to hang in the classroom. Choose your favorites, and your genuine “thank you” will leave a lasting impression on the teachers who did the same for you.
Aaron Bacall
Think of the drawing or images that could go with this quote. It could even go in a photo collage of memories from the classroom.
Fred Rogers
This quote explains how much more teachers do than teach, and also pays a teacher the compliment that he or she is a hero in your eyes.
Unattributed
It takes a big heart to help shape little minds. -Unattributed
When looking for teacher quotes, short sound bites like this one are perfect for banners, social media, and other places where space is limited.
Jacques Barzun
Don’t wait until Teacher Appreciation Week to show your thanks for the teachers who made a difference for you.
Benjamin Franklin
Even the best teachers are underpaid and under-thanked. Show your favorite teachers some recognition, and they’ll see how their work paid off in a touching way.
Lily Tomlin
Use this quote in a card and add a personal note. Tell a teacher what ideas or personal epiphanies you had outside of class thanks to topics in class.
Stephen Hawking
Think of the exceptional people you know, and ask some of them about the teachers they remember.
American proverb
A little humor is always appreciated. Pick out the funny teacher quotes to add some extra joy to the day.
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Great teacher quotes for the truly inspirational educators.
Great teachers are eternal students, themselves. Forever learning through each school year, classroom, and student, the best teacher quotes capture what education can look like when delivered by an exceptionally good teacher.
These quotes from history’s thinkers, leaders, and personalities recognize great teachers. They also leave educators with food for thought to continue giving the best education they can.
Teacher Appreciation Week might be a fun time to celebrate teachers, but there are some educators who leave such a mark that our gratitude gushes out without the need for a special occasion. Whether you’re a student who wants to show thanks or a teacher who wants to stay inspired, these great teacher quotes are perfect.
Japanese Proverb
A whole school year with one great teacher is paid in a lifetime of influence.
Dalai Lama
Education is about so much more than imparting information.
Ann Liberman
Can you imagine what “special something” each student of just one classroom might have?
Mark Van Doren
Guide students to where they discover, and they learn to learn.
Christa McAuliffe
Teachers might not tell the future, but they certainly shape it.
D. Martin
That sure explains the sparks when the class gets rowdy.
Dr. Seuss
What better quote for a poster than this one by Dr. Suess, with all the accompanying imagery?
Abraham Lincoln
Education of the children is for the benefit of the world.
Teacher motivational quotes for one of the hardest jobs there is.
There are days when teaching is harder than ever. A classroom is filled with rowdy or jaded students. Faces stare blankly, and you doubt whether anything you’ve taught will stick at all. Teachers are perpetually underpaid, and thousands of them spend their own savings to support their classrooms.
Education is a true calling. There’s passion behind it, because little else could make the challenges worthwhile. Still, there are times when even passion falters. How do you rekindle the fire? Where do you turn for help, or for new ideas?
Fortunately, history has left us with a treasure trove of positive teacher quotes. From famous teacher quotes to those that instruct and inspire, these quotes have the power to make a difference. Choose your favorites and use them in inspirational collages, on posters, or in letters to teachers you know need the boost.
Robert John Meehan
The benefit of one teacher’s continued progress is the benefit of every student that teacher meets.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Choose from famous teacher quotes like this one to go on classroom posters of inspiring figures.
William Butler Yeats
This powerful and memorable metaphor can go on a card, in a personal letter, or on an inspirational poster.
Confucius
Hang this timeless education quote on a banner, and it can become a personal mantra.
John C. Dana
Do students see you learning and understand that you’re growing, too?
Edward Everett
Imagine how many critical thinkers will venture into the world with just one teacher shaping the power to challenge and think.
Alfred Mercier
This can be a helpful refrain for educators. Each lesson can be taught, somehow, with pleasure.
Anne Frank
Even when teaching is hardest, taking action now to be your best can mean improving the world with lifelong dividends.
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Teacher retirement quotes to celebrate a career of shaping lives.
An educator who’s spent years in the classroom leaves a lasting impact on potentially thousands of lives. The ripple effect of that career is extraordinary. Thank you teacher quotes for retirement recognize the magnitude of that impact, and close the teacher’s career on notes of nostalgia and appreciation.
Teacher retirement quotes help educators remember the lasting impact of each academic year and each life they touched. Choose your favorites and imagine them in banners or posters for retirement party décor, cards and letters from former students, and flyers to promote the final party. It’s all easy in Adobe Express — no experience required.
Robert M. Hutchins
The end of every school year leaves you wondering, how much of what you taught will last? The end of a career magnifies that feeling. Your job, however, is done.
B.B. King
Even with the passage of time, your lasting impact on students will always be remembered, and forever be reflected in how your former students live.
Henry Adams
There is so much influence that departing teachers will never know they left. Still, that doesn’t make their influence any less significant.
GK Chesterton
As one educator retires, the baton is handed off to another generation of teachers, too. The soul of education lives on.
Andy Rooney
Think of how many students will remember a retiring teacher who spent years or decades of time in the classroom.
Kij Johnson
Retiring teachers can step back and take credit for many of the changes in the world around them.
Nicholas A. Ferroni
For retiring teachers, now it’s your turn to rest. The benefits of your career are being harvested daily in your immediate world.
New teacher quotes to start off with energy and excitement.
New teachers might be fresh from their own schooling, but they continue to learn from every class, student, and school year.
These new teacher quotes help you remember why you started teaching in the first place. They help you ride out the moments of nervousness, struggle, and overwhelm. Everything you ever studied, practiced, heard, or imagined is about to pan out in real-life experience, and these cute teacher quotes help you focus on what it’s all about.
Gordon Neufeld
They’ll know it when you show it.
Lady Bird Johnson
This is a powerful quote for yourself or for other peers in education. It could go on a poster in the teacher’s lounge as a reminder.
Bob Talbert
This is a cute play on words among famous math teacher quotes.
Dr. Ralph Tyler
There are some days when only that sense of purpose will pull you through.
Joseph Joubert
By teaching, a teacher keeps learning; and by learning, a teacher continually becomes a better teacher.
Anatole France
Encouragement comes in many different forms, from peer support to good grades and direct encouragement from a teacher.
Stephen King
Even when you’re not sure that your core curriculum is sticking, maybe something unexpected is.
Pablo Picasso
When other resources falter, your gift of teaching is never a finite resource, and you can continue giving.
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Tips to put teacher quotes to good use.
Teacher quotes aren’t just for Teacher Appreciation Week, nor are they only for students or for teachers. The best teacher quotes are relatable and timely, meaning you can use them in any educational environment.
For example, you can consider using teacher quotes in:
- Custom cards for a teacher you’ve had, a teacher you know, or a fellow educator.
- Personal letters to teachers for retirement, or for teachers you know personally who you think need motivation or guidance.
- Posters or banners to put teacher quotes up in the classroom.
- Photo collages to share on social media, in emails, or to hang by your desk for daily inspiration.
- Flyers for Teacher Appreciation Week or an educator’s retirement party.
You can leave teacher quotes on shared bulletin boards, too, and you might see them in the school’s monthly newsletter. Whenever and wherever you can give thanks to a teacher, these teacher quotes send the perfect message.
Exercise: the theme-maker.
As Maya Angelou said, “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”
If you need the perfect teacher quote, ask yourself: how do you want to make that teacher feel?
If you’re an educator, yourself, and looking for inspiration, the question is roughly the same: how do you want to feel?
This curated list of teacher quotes strikes every chord. Once you put your target emotion into words, you can pick the best quote for your project.
It’s not just about how you share your teacher quotes, either. It’s also about which teachers you share them with. Even a teacher you haven’t talked to in a decade is fair game. Teachers don’t get enough thanks as it is, and these teacher quotes can change that.
Adobe Express can help.
Adobe Express has templates and customization tools to put your favorite teacher quotes to work. If you want to use teacher quotes in cards, letters, posters, banners, photo collages, flyers, or other creative projects, Adobe Express makes it as simple as picking a template and personalizing it, or making your own idea with easy-to-use tools. Whatever message you want to transmit, Adobe Express brings it to life, no experience required.