“I tend not to share things unnecessarily with those I despise.”

“So much of teaching is sharing. Learning results in sharing, sharing results in change, change is learning. The only other job with so much sharing is parenting. That's probably why the two are so often confused.”

“It's not our job to be liked(teachers)", I reminded her. "Its our job to help them be smart(students)". Secretly, I thought, who gives a rat's ass if they like us? Sometimes I can hardly stand them!”

“Something's going on in Cordell's room, but I'm not sure I want to know what it is.”

“The difference between a beginning teacher and an experienced one is that the beginning teacher asks, "How am I doing?" and the experienced teacher asks, How are the children doing?”

“Sometimes a little song is sweet to hear, even if the orchestra is more accomplished”

“Why do these dumb fucks keep guns around the house? They make the world as ruinous as they imagine it is.”