But if there is such a thing as social commitment in literature, I think it must manifest itself in a reader's awareness of the human condition, in the writer's touching some common nerve ending. I think this kind of social commitment, like a lady's slip, should be there but it must not show.

Education is not a product: mark, diploma, job, money-in that order; it is a process, a never-ending one.

... good teachers, like Tolstoy's happy families, are alike everywhere.

Never mind the cream; it will always rise to the top. It's the skim milk that needs good teachers.

Education can't make us all leaders, but it can teach us which leader to follow.

When giving comes directly from the heart, it can never disappoint or embarrass.

And that's it; that's why I want to teach; that's the one and only compensation: to make a permanent difference in the life of a child.