Teaching is the canny art of intellectual temptation

The agentive mind is not only active in nature, but it seeks out dialogue and discourse with other active minds. And it is through this dialogic, discursive process that we come to know the Other and his points of view, his stories. We learn an enormous amount not only about the world but about ourselves by discourse with Others.

Agency presupposes choice.

The main characteristic of play - whether of child or adult - is not it content but its mode. Play is an approach to action, not a form of activity.

We need to conceive of ourselves as "agents" impelled by self-generated intentions.

We are storytelling creatures, and as children we acquire language to tell those stories that we have inside us.

The young child approaching a new subject or anew problem is like the scientist operating at the edge of his chosen field.