thirty quotations

Collected by Ken Ronkowitz

Thirty Quotations

For example...

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.

Try that yourself as you go through these...

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.

“Quotes ”

James Richardson

The road reaches every place. The short cut only one.

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

Herman Melville

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

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

Michelangelo

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

W. C. Fields

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

We need a president who's fluent in at least one language.

Buck Henry, 2005

Lewis Carroll

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

Aldous Huxley

Maybe this world is another planet's hell.

James Richardson

All stones are broken stones.

Saint Augustine

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

Russel Lynes

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

Thomas Berger

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

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

Henry Ford

Anonymous

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

Never judge a book by its movie.

J.W. Eagan

James Richardson

Water deepens where it has to wait.

Euripides

Talk sense to a fool and he calls you foolish.

Ernest Hemingway

Never confuse movement with action.

Thomas Mann

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

Anonymous

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

Samuel Butler

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

Franklin P. Jones

You never realize what a good memory you have until you try to forget something.

James Richardson

Who breaks the thread,the one who pulls,

the one who holds on?

Groucho Marx

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

Stephen King

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.

Samuel Johnson

One of the disadvantages of wineis that it makes a man mistake

words for thoughts.

Western Proverb

Leap and the net will appear.

Shunryu Suzuki

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

Kurt Vonnegut

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

Now, the thing is...

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.

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/