Treat a child as though he already is the person he's capable of becoming.

Adolescence can be a time of turmoil and turbulence, of stress and storm. Rebellion against authority and against convention is to be expected and tolerated for the sake of learning and growth.

Wise parents know that fighting a teenager, like fighting a riptide, is inviting doom.

Misbehavior and punishment are not opposites that cancel each other - on the contrary they breed and reinforce each other.

If we treat people as they are, we make them worse. If we treat people as they ought to be, we help them become what they are capable of becoming.

I've come to the frightening conclusion that I am the decisive element in the classroom. It's my personal approach that creates the climate. It's my daily mood that makes the weather. As a teacher, I possess tremendous power to make a student's life miserable or joyous. I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration. I can humiliate or humor, hurt or heal. In all situations it is my response that decides whether a crisis will be escalated or de-escalated and a student humanized or de-humanized.

When gentle persuasion [of children] falls on deaf ears, we resort to ridicule and rebuke. Then we return to threats and punishment. This is the modus operandi of a mutual frustration society.