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.

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

I want to point the way to something that should forever lure them, when the TV set is broken and the movie is over and the school bell has rung for the last time.

People ate bread made of the shells of peas because there was no flour.

Learning is a process of mutual discovery for teacher and pupil. Keep an open mind to their unexpected responses.

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.

Love is the ultimate giving, an expression of one's best self.