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A good teacher does not draw out; he gives out, and what he gives out is love. And by love I mean approval, or if you like, friendliness, good nature. The good teacher not only understands the child: he approves of the child.

— A. S. Neill The Problem Teacher (1939)

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More quotes by A. S. Neill

My own criterion of success is the ability to work joyfully and to live positively.

Summerhill (1960)

A child is innately wise and realistic. If left to himself without adult suggestion of any kind, he will develop as far as he is capable of developing.

Summerhill (1960)

You cannot make children learn music or anything else without to some degree converting them into will-less adults.

Summerhill (1960)

If the emotions are free, the intellect will look after itself.

The Free Child (1953)

Hate breeds hate, and love breeds love.

Summerhill (1960)

All A. S. Neill quotes →

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Each of these private teachers who work for pay ... inculcates nothing else than these opinions of the multitude which they opine when they are assembled and calls this knowledge wisdom.

Socrates

The land is the real teacher. All we need as students is mindfulness. Paying attention is a form of reciprocity with the living world, receiving the gifts with open eyes and open heart.

Robin Wall Kimmerer Braiding Sweetgrass (2013)

Who dares to teach must never cease to learn.

John Cotton Dana

School teachers, taking them by and large, are probably the most ignorant and stupid class of men in the whole group of mental workers.

H. L. Mencken The Philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche (1908)

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Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: A. S. Neill (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.