Inspiring Minds: A Collection of Uplifting Quotes for the Classroom

"A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new."

- Albert Einstein

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

- Helen Keller

"You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think."

- A.A. Milne

"The beautiful thing about learning is that no one can take it away from you."

- BB King

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

- Henry Ford

"The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams."

- Eleanor Roosevelt

"Change is the end result of all true learning."

- Leo Buscaglia

"Success is not final, failure is not fatal: It is the courage to continue that counts."

- Winston Churchill

"Our greatest glory is not in never failing, but in rising every time we fall."

- Confucius

"Failure is the opportunity to begin again more intelligently."

- Henry Ford

"Just one small positive thought in the morning can change your whole day."

- Dalai Lama

"There is no substitute for hard work."

- Thomas A. Edison

"Genius is 1% talent and 99% percent hard work."

- Albert Einstein

"Take the first step in faith. You don’t have to see the whole staircase. Just take the first step."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"Life’s failures are stepping stones to success."

- Thomas Edison

"Enthusiasm is common. Endurance is rare."

- Angela Duckworth

"No matter what your ability is, effort is what ignites that ability and turns it into accomplishment."

- Carol Dweck

"Judge a man by his questions rather than by his answers."

- Voltaire

"Be less curious about people and more curious about ideas."

- Marie Curie

"You cannot do a kindness too soon, for you never know how soon it will be too late."

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

"People will forget what you said, but they will never forget how you made them feel."

- Maya Angelou

"Creativity is putting your imagination to work, and it’s produced the most extraordinary results in human culture."

- Ken Robinson

"You have to be burning with an idea, or a problem, or a wrong you want to right. If you’re not passionate enough from the start, you’ll never stick it out."

- Steve Jobs

"Nothing great in the world has ever been accomplished without passion."

- Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel

"The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing."

- Walt Disney

"Success means having the courage, the determination, and the will to become the person you believe you meant to be."

- George Sheehan

"The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today."

- Franklin D. Roosevelt

"It always seems impossible until it’s done."

- Nelson Mandela

"You must be the change you wish to see in the world."

- Mahatma Gandhi

"Believe you can and you’re halfway there."

- Theodore Roosevelt

"Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can."

- Arthur Ashe

"What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us."

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Be a rainbow in someone else’s cloud."

- Maya Angelou

"You cannot change your future, but you can change your habits, and surely your habits will change your future."

- A.P.J. Abdul Kalam

"It is not in the stars to hold our destiny but in ourselves."

- William Shakespeare

"You have to be odd to be number one."

- Dr. Seuss

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

- Nelson Mandela

"The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. Intelligence plus character – that is the goal of true education."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"Nine-tenths of education is encouragement."

- Anatole France

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

- Plutarch

"Education is not preparation for life; education is life itself."

- John Dewey

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

- BB King

"Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever."

- Mahatma Gandhi

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

- Dr. Seuss

"Don’t let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do."

- John R. Wooden

"Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful."

- Albert Pujols

"Everyone you will ever meet knows something you don’t."

- Bill Nye

"I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work."

- Thomas Edison

"Try not to become a man of success, but rather try to become a man of value."

- Albert Einstein

"Dream big and dare to fail."

- Norman Vaughan

"Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time."

- Thomas A. Edison

"I realized if you can change a classroom, you can change a community, and if you change enough communities you can change the world."

- Erin Gruwell

"Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid."

- Albert Einstein

"In most every business, you learn by doing. The apprenticeship model is much more effective than the classroom for cultivating entrepreneurs."

- Andrew Yang

"That's the beauty of education, kids taking lessons out of the classroom and back into their own world where they can positively affect their family, their friends, and their greater community."

- Erin Gruwell

"I believe with all my heart that the American classroom teachers are one of our greatest and most heroic treasures."

- Patricia Polacco

"Every day, I see my students work hard to overcome obstacles just to be in the classroom."

- Jill Biden

"Nothing is impossible; the word itself says ‘I’m possible!'"

- Audrey Hepburn

"The difference between try and triumph is a little umph."

- Marvin Phillips

"Dreams come a size too big so that we can grow into them."

- Josie Bissett

"You can never be overdressed or overeducated."

- Oscar Wilde

"I hope you all like where you're sitting, because these are your permanent seats."

- Jeff Kinney

"The influence of teachers extends beyond the classroom, well into the future. It is they who shape and enrich the minds of the young, who touch their hearts and souls. It is they who shape a nation's future."

- F. Sionil Jose

"My goal in the classroom was always to make sure they were having so much fun that they didn't realize they were learning."

- Rick Riordan

"Art in the classroom not only spurs creativity, it also inspires learning."

- Mickey Hart

"Heroes represent the best of ourselves, respecting that we are human beings. A hero can be anyone from Gandhi to your classroom teacher, anyone who can show courage when faced with a problem. A hero is someone who is willing to help others in his or her best capacity."

- Ricky Martin

"Fall seven times, stand up eight."

- Japanese Proverb

"A little progress each day adds up to big results."

"Life is short. Smile while you still have teeth."

"Once a beginner, forever a learner. Embrace the journey, for greatness awaits those who persist."

"Children must be taught how to think. Not what to think."

"Take risks: if you win, you will be happy; if you lose, you will be wise."

"By learning, you will teach. By teaching, you will learn."

"One teacher. One child. One book. One pen. Can change the world."

"An education is the only thing no one can ever take away from you."