I believe that much of the maladjustment in our societies is caused, not by malevolence and corruption, but simply by ignorance.

The Sonnets of Shakespeare have the fascination of an autobiography, without its clarity. It is like reading an important document in a cave by the light of matches which keep blowing out.

They are explosive mixtures. Some of them are as sensitive as those fulminates which can be detonated by a falling leaf.

Wherever there are beginners and experts, old and young, there is some kind of learning going on, and some sort of teaching. We are all pupils and we are all teachers.

Leisure is one of the three greatest rewards of being a teacher. It is, unfortunately, the privilege which teachers most often misuse.

Many of the twisted minds and crippled characters in the world were made by careless parents who kept their children away from knives and fires, but put permanent scars on their souls.

Most Americans do not like poetry. We may respect it, but we do not enjoy it.

A very wise old teacher once said: 'I consider a day's teaching is wasted if we do not all have one hearty laugh.' He meant that when people laugh together, they cease to be young and old, master and pupils, workers and driver, jailer and prisoners, they become a single group of human beings enjoying its existence.

The best school in the world will scarcely save a boy who hates the school and the purpose it serves and the society that created it.

Poetry is halfway between prose and music: it is sometimes like an intimate conversation, in words and phrases which need not be fully uttered, and sometimes like dancing and wordless music.