This document contains 30 short quotations on various topics. It instructs the reader to choose one quote that speaks to them during a presentation break, then explains how their chosen quote reflects on them as a teacher. However, the quotes were not actually chosen about teaching - they can find meaning in any field. Assigning quotes as metaphors for teaching prompts insightful interpretations regardless of the reader's profession.

1. Thirty Quotations
Collected by Ken Ronkowitz

2. I have used these for presentations in a
variety of ways – from just letting them
play while people are getting settled to
focus attention on the front of the room,
using them as ice breakers, and using
them as part of the presentation.
For example...

3. In doing a presentation for a group of
thirty K-12 teachers, I simply asked
them to watch the presentation as it
looped during a break (you can time
them in PowerPoint to actually keep
track of the break time for you) and pick
the one quote that speaks to you. Write
it down.
Try that yourself
as you go through these...

4. “Quotes ”

5. The road reaches every place.
The short cut only one.
James Richardson

6. The statistics on sanity are
that one out of every four Americans
is suffering from some form of mental
illness. Think of your three best friends –
if they're okay, then it's you.
Rita Mae Brown

7. A man thinks that by mouthing hard
words he understands hard things.
Herman Melville

8. I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I
set him free.
Michelangelo

9. Horse sense is the thing a horse has which
keeps it from betting on people.
W. C. Fields

10. We shall not cease from exploration.
And the end of all our exploring
will be to arrive where we started,
and know the place for the first time.
T. S. Eliot

11. We need a president who's fluent in at
least one language.
Buck Henry, 2005

12. Sometimes I've believed as many as six
impossible things before breakfast.
Lewis Carroll

13. Maybe this world is another planet's hell.
Aldous Huxley

14. All stones are broken stones.
James Richardson

15. What if you should be mistaken?
Well, if I am mistaken, I exist.
Saint Augustine

16. Every journalist has a novel in him,
which is an excellent place for it.
Russel Lynes

17. Why do writers write?
Because it isn't there.
Thomas Berger

18. You can't build a reputation on what
you're planning to do.
Henry Ford

19. There is an island of opportunity
in the middle of every difficulty.
Anonymous

20. Never judge a book by its movie.
J.W. Eagan

21. Water deepens where it has to wait.
James Richardson

22. Talk sense to a fool
and he calls you foolish.
Euripides

23. Never confuse movement with action.
Ernest Hemingway

24. A writer is a person for whom writing is
more difficult than it is for other people.
Thomas Mann

25. How a man plays the game shows
something of his character;
how he loses shows all of it.
Anonymous

26. The man who lets himself be bored is
even more contemptible than the bore.
Samuel Butler

27. You never realize what a good
memory you have until you try to
forget something.
Franklin P. Jones

28. Who breaks the thread,
the one who pulls,
the one who holds on?
James Richardson

29. Outside of a dog, a book is a man’s best
friend. Inside of a dog, it’s too dark
to read.
Groucho Marx

30. Some people say that I must be
a horrible person, but that’s not true.
I have the heart of a small boy –
in a jar on my desk.
Stephen King

31. One of the disadvantages of wine
is that it makes a man mistake
words for thoughts.
Samuel Johnson

32. Leap and the net will appear.
Western Proverb

33. There should not be any particular
teaching. Teaching is in each moment.
Shunryu Suzuki

34. A reason to write is to say to others
that you are not alone.
Kurt Vonnegut

35. OK – did you select one?
Here’s your task:
All of these quotes are really metaphors
for teaching. Explain how your chosen
quote reflects on you as a teacher, your
philosophy or your experiences.
Now, the thing is...

36. That they were not chosen to be about
teaching. They were not chosen to be
about any particular subject. I just like
them.
BUT, tell a group that they were chosen
on that basis and you will be amazed at
what meaning people find in them.
You could use them with engineers or
nurses and it would work as well.
http://web.njit.edu/~ronkowit/