Quotations

“We are more than the sum of our knowledge, we are the products of our imagination" -Ancient Proverb

“A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new.” -Albert Einstein

“It is, in fact, nothing short of a miracle that the modern methods of instruction have not yet entirely strangled the holy curiosity of inquiry; for what this delicate little plant needs more than anything, besides stimulation, is freedom. It is a very grave mistake to think that the enjoyment of seeing and searching can be promoted by means of coercion and a sense of duty. To the contrary, I believe it would be possible to rob even a healthy beast of prey of its voraciousness, if it were possible, with the aid of a whip, to force the beast to devour continuously, even when not hungry." -Albert Einstein

"The world is a dangerous place to live; not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don't do anything about it." -Albert Einstein

"Children are not vases to be filled rather they are flames to be lit" -African Proverb

"The function of a child is to live his own life — not the life that his anxious parents think he should live, not a life according to the purpose of an educator who thinks he knows best." -A.S. Neill

If there is anything that we wish to change in the child, we should first examine it and see whether it is not something that could better be changed in ourselves. -Carl Jung

"Imagination will often carry us to worlds that never were, but without it we would go nowhere" -Carl Sagan.

"Aim for success, not perfection. Never give up your right to be wrong, because then you will lose the ability to learn new things and move forward with your life." -Dr. David M. Burns

“When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace.” -Jimi Hendrix

"It's not that I feel that school is a good idea gone wrong, but a wrong idea from the word go. It's a nutty notion that we can have a place where nothing but learning happens, cut off from the rest of life." -John Holt

“The true test of intelligence is not how much we know how to do, but how to behave when we don’t know what to do” -John Holt

"Children do not need to be made to learn to be better, told what to do or shown how. If they are given access to enough of the world, they will see clearly enough what things are truly important to themselves and to others, and they will make for themselves a better path into that world then anyone else could make for them." -John Holt

“To parents I say, above all else, don’t let your home become some terrible miniature copy of the school. No lesson plans! No quizzes! No tests! No report cards! Even leaving your kids alone would be better; at least they could figure out some things on their own. Live together, as well as you can; enjoy life together, as much as you can.” -John Holt

"I'm not funny. What I am is brave." -Lucille Ball

"Everybody can be great... because anybody can serve. You don't have to have a college degree to serve. You don't have to make your subject and verb agree to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love." -Martin Luther King, Jr.

"I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. This is why right temporarily defeated is stronger than evil triumphant." -Martin Luther King, Jr. (Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech)

When Mother Teresa was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979, she was asked, "What can we do to promote world peace?" She replied "Go home and love your family."

"We do not inherit the Earth from our ancestors: we borrow it from our children." -Native American Proverb

“Don't limit a child to your own learning, for he was born in another time." -Rabbinic saying