We can never say “thank you” to our teachers and educators enough, and sometimes it can feel tough to find the right words. These thankful quotes for teachers can help when you’re writing cards or notes for teacher appreciation!
The end of the school year is quickly approaching for our family, and I’ve been thinking a lot about how to show my oldest child’s teachers how much we appreciate them.
A great teacher is such a gift. Our school does a teacher appreciation week that’s filled with special gifts and teacher messages for those educators that go the extra mile for our children.
My love language is Words of Affirmation, so I’m always a sucker for a great quote! This list of thankful quotes for teachers was created on my search for the perfect words for this year. I hope it helps inspire you too as you search for teacher appreciation quotes.
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50 Famous Thankful Quotes for Teachers
These famous quotes might be just the words you’ve been searching for to express gratitude to the great teachers in your life. From quotes on good teachers, education, inspiring minds and making a difference, check out this list as you brainstorm what special words you want to share with your child’s teachers this year.
“If you can read this, thank a teacher.”
American Proverb
“A good teacher is one who makes himself progressively unnecessary.”
Thomas Carruthers
“A good teacher can inspire hope; ignite the imagination, and instill a love of learning.”
Brad Henry
“Great teachers empathize with kids, respect them, and believe that each one has something special that can be built upon.”
Ann Lieberman
“A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops.”
Henry Brooks Adams
“Genius without education is like silver in the mine.”
Benjamin Franklin
“Anyone who does anything to help a child in his life is a hero to me.”
Fred Rogers (AKA Mister Rogers)
“The direction in which education starts a man will determine his future life.”
Plato
“When you teach your son, you teach your son’s son.”
The Talmud
“A teacher takes a hand, opens a mind, and touches a heart.”
Unknown
“Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.”
William Butler Yeats
“I am indebted to my father for living, but to my teacher for living well.”
Alexander the Great
“Nine-tenths of education is encouragement.”
Anatole France
“A mind, once stretched by a new idea, never regains its original dimensions.”
Oliver Wendell Holmes
“Better than a thousand days of diligent study is one day with a great teacher.”
Japanese Proverb
“Education breeds confidence. Confidence breeds hope. Hope breeds peace.”
Confucius
“To teach is to learn twice.”
Joseph Joubert
“It’s easy to make a buck. It’s a lot tougher to make a difference.”
Tom Brokaw
“The greatest sign of success for a teacher… is to be able to say, ‘The children are now working as if I did not exist.’”
Maria Montessori
“One test of the correctness of educational procedure is the happiness of the child.”
Maria Montessori
“A good teacher is like a candle – it consumes itself to light the way for others.”
Mustafa Kemal Ataturk
“Students don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.”
John C. Maxwell
“Most of us end up with no more than five or six people who remember us. Teachers have thousands of people who remember them for the rest of their lives.”
Andy Rooney
“Teaching kids to count is fine, but teaching them what counts is best.”
Bob Talbert
“What a teacher writes on the blackboard of life can never be erased.”
Unknown
“The great teacher is not the man who supplies the most facts, but the one in whose presence we become different people.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson
“It takes a big heart to help shape little minds.”
Unknown
“The art of teaching is the art of assisting discovery.”
Mark Van Doren
“I think the teaching profession contributes more to the future of our society than any other single profession.”
John Wooden
“Good teaching is more a giving of right questions than a giving of right answers.”
Josef Albers
“Be a wonderful role model because you will be the window through which many children will see their future.”
Thomas Mckinnon
“The beautiful thing about learning is that no one can take it away from you.”
B.B. King
“When you teach your son, you teach your son’s son.”
Alexandra K. Trenfor
“Appreciation is a wonderful thing. It makes what is excellent in others belong to us as well.”
Voltaire
“What a gift for any teacher to see the students smile and live up to their potential. That’s the reward. That’s humbling to be a witness to something like that.”
Mary Vallelonga
“Teaching is the profession that teaches all the other professions.”
Unknown
“The task of the excellent teacher is to stimulate ‘apparently ordinary’ people to unusual effort. The tough problem is not in identifying winners: it is in making winners out of ordinary people.”
K. Patricia Cross
“It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge.”
Albert Einstein
“Children are likely to live up to what you believe of them.”
Lady Bird Johnson
“What we learn with pleasure we never forget.”
Alfred Mercier
“Everyone who remembers his own education remembers teachers, not methods and techniques. The teacher is the heart of the educational system.”
Sidney Hook
“Far and away the best prize that life offers is the chance to work hard at work worth doing.”
Theodore Roosevelt
“One looks back with appreciation to the brilliant teachers, but with gratitude to those who touched our human feelings.”
Carl Jung
“The object of education is to prepare the young to educate themselves throughout their lives.”
Robert M. Hutchins
“If you want to be successful, it’s just this simple. Know what you are doing. Love what you are doing. And believe in what you are doing.”
Will Rodgers
“The best teachers are those who show you where to look but don’t tell you what to see.”
Unknown
“Not all superheroes have capes, some have Teaching Degrees.”
Unknown
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Wondering what to say to a teacher you appreciate?
Think about the best teacher you know. What made them such a wonderful teacher? Here are a few other great ideas for back to school. If you’re searching for the words to tell a fantastic teacher just how much they meant to you or your child, try customizing some of these words of gratitude for teacher appreciation week.
Thank you for shaping Ashley’s growing mind. The world needs more teachers like you!
The school year might be ending, but your excitement about learning has changed our children forever. We are so glad you were Lila’s teacher this year!
The job you do is far from easy, and we appreciate so much all of the valuable time you invested to make this such a great school year.
Not all superheroes have capes: some have teaching degrees, and we are lucky to see your superpowers every day. Thank you for everything you’ve done for Jimmy this year.
A teacher is a person who surrounds her students with inspiration and inspires young minds to grow. Thank you for inspiring Ruby this year!
This past year you worked to see the good in each and every one of your students. You are an incredible teacher and so appreciated!
You opened Henry’s eyes to a world of learning into your classroom this year! Thank you for making such a positive impact on the entire class.
Check out these beautiful and inexpensive notecards for drafting your thanks on.
