100 of Our All-Time Favorite Classroom Quotes

We love using inspirational quotes to motivate and inspire students. The power of words just cannot be overestimated. Sometimes sharing the right words at the right moment can make all the difference. Here are some of our all-time favorite classroom quotes, as spotted on Instagram.

Ways To Use Classroom Quotes

As we mentioned, a great quote can help you find the right words when you need them. There are so many moments in the classroom when sending the right message is so important. Whether it’s the beginning of the school year, before or after the holidays, or at the end of the year, good classroom quotes can set the tone for our students.

They’re also perfect in the face of the unexpected. Maybe your students have dealt with a big change or disappointment. Maybe they’re celebrating. Print some and hang them on the walls, or make small copies to sneak in with homework or treats. You’ll find something for every occasion on this list. We hope you enjoy it!

Our All-Time Favorite Classroom Quotes

1. Be the leader in a school of fish.

2. Be a pineapple. Stand tall, wear a crown, and be sweet on the inside.

3. Never let the fear of striking out keep you from playing the game.

4. If the words you spoke appeared on your skin, would you still be beautiful?

5. I may not be there yet, but I am closer than I was yesterday.

6. Even if hate has a bullhorn, love is louder.

7. Reading is like breathing in, writing is like breathing out.

8. Kind is the new cool.

9. If your dreams don’t scare you, they aren’t big enough.

10. None of us is as smart as all of us.

11. From small beginnings come great things.

12. Make today so awesome yesterday is jealous.

13. Look with kindness and you will find wonder.

14. Be awesome, be amazing, be you.

15. Today a reader, tomorrow a leader.

16. Be somebody who makes everybody feel like a somebody.

17. In a world where you can be anything, be kind.

18. You are loved.

19. Broken crayons still color.

20. Sometimes the bravest and most important thing you can do is just show up.

21. In our class we don’t do easy. We make easy happen through hard work and learning.

22. You’re here. You take up space. You matter.

23. Your voice matters.

24. Throw kindness around like confetti.

25. The earth without art is just eh.

26. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.

27. Never bend your head. Hold it high. Look the world in the eye.

28. Let’s root for each other and watch each other grow.

29. To have good friends, you need to be one.

30. Misfits we may be, but we will rewrite history.

31. The beautiful thing about learning is that no one can take it away from you.

32. Whether you think you can or you think you can’t, you’re right.

33. Be the reason someone smiles today.

34. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us.

35. You’re going to rattle the stars, you are.

36. If it doesn’t challenge you, it doesn’t change you.

37. It’s a good day for a good day.

38. You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.

39. Everything you don’t know is something you can learn.

40. Mistakes help me learn better.

41. We may all be different fish, but at this school we swim together.

42. Say what you mean but don’t say it mean.

43. You belong here.

44. You will never regret being kind.

45. Look closely at the present you are constructing. It should look like the future you are dreaming.

46. Excellence is doing ordinary things extraordinarily well.

47. It doesn’t matter what others are doing, it matters what you are doing.

48. Wake up and be awesome.

49. Learn as if you will live forever, live like you will die tomorrow.

50. When you change your thoughts, remember to also change your world.

51. Success is not final. Failure is not fatal. It is the courage to continue that counts.

52. The road to success and the road to failure are almost exactly the same.

53. Don’t let yesterday take up too much of today.

54. Experience is a hard teacher because she gives the test first, the lesson afterward.

55. Either you run the day or the day runs you.

56. When we strive to become better than we are, everything around us becomes better too.

57. Education is the most powerful weapon you can use to change the world.

58. Take the attitude of a student, never be too big to ask questions, never know too much to learn something new.

59. Just one small positive thought in the morning can change your whole day.

60. If you’re not positive energy, you’re negative energy.

61. Don’t look at your feet to see if you are doing it right. Just dance.

62. Set your goals high, and don’t stop till you get there.

63. Live out of your imagination, not your history.

64. Worry is a misuse of imagination.

65. A year from now, you will wish you had started today.

66. Hustle beats talent when talent doesn’t hustle.

67. Everything you’ve ever wanted is sitting on the other side of fear.

68. Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.

69. Don’t worry about failure … you only have to be right once.

70. You carry the passport to your own happiness.

71. If there is no struggle, there is no progress.

72. It’s kind of fun to do the impossible.

73. No one is perfect—that’s why pencils have erasers.

74. The classroom should be an entrance into the world, not an escape from it.

75. No matter what people tell you, words and ideas can change the world.

76. The secret of getting ahead is getting started.

77. Only surround yourself with people who will lift you higher.

78. There’s a way to do it better. Find it.

79. Everything comes to he who hustles while he waits.

80. If we value all readers, we must value all reading.

81. The only place where success comes before work is in the dictionary.

82. Let us remember: One book, one pen, one child, and one teacher can change the world.

83. It’s easier to floss with barbed wire than admit you like someone in middle school.

84. He who questions much shall learn much and retain much.

85. A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.

86. Excellence is an art won by training and habituation.

87. Education is not the filling of a pail but the lighting of a fire.

88. Keep your eyes on the stars and your feet on the ground.

89. Ideas are great arrows, but there has to be a bow.

90. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice.

91. If you smile when no one else is around, you really mean it.

92. A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new.

93. History: a collection of epitaphs.

94. I never dreamt of success. I worked for it.

95. Passion is the genesis of genius.

96. The roots of education are bitter, but the fruit is sweet.

97. The purpose of education is to replace an empty mind with an open one.

98. The future of the world is in my classroom today.

99. I am not a teacher but an awakener.

100. Learning is a treasure that will follow its owner everywhere.

What are your favorite classroom quotes? We’d love to hear them in our WeAreTeachers HELPLINE group on Facebook.

Plus, check out these inspirational posters for teachers.