139 Inspirational Back to School Quotes
Going back to school is a mix of nerves and excitement, so we’ve put together a list of all the best back to school quotes to help start the year off right.
And if you’re looking for short and fun sayings for Instagram, we also have you covered.
Now go ahead and browse through to find your favorite.
Short Back to School Quotes
- “To be good is noble, but to teach others how to be good is nobler – and less trouble.” — Mark Twain
- “School is a building which has four walls with tomorrow inside.” — Lon Watters
- “He who would learn to fly one day must first learn to stand and walk and run and climb and dance; one cannot fly into flying.” — Friedrich Nietzsche
- “This is a new year. A new beginning. And things will change.” — Taylor Swift
- “The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” — Lao Tzu
- “A new school year means new beginnings, new adventures, new friendships, and new challenges.” — Denise Witmer
- “The great aim of education is not knowledge but action.” — Herbert Spencer
- “What I remember most about high school are the memories I created with my friends.” — J. J. Watt
- “Do not confine your children to your own learning, for they were born in another time.” — Chinese Proverb
- “The capacity to learn is a gift; the ability to learn is a skill; the willingness to learn is a choice.” — Brian Herbert
- “Dreams come a size too big so that we can grow into them.” — Josie Bissett
- “Work hard, be kind and amazing things will happen.” — Conan O’Brien
- “Being fearless isn’t being 100 percent not fearful, it’s being terrified but you jump anyway.” — Taylor Swift
- “If you think education is expensive, try ignorance.” — Derek Bok (often misattributed; sometimes credited to Andy McIntyre)
- “Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day in and day out.” — Robert Collier
- “Learn as much as you can while you are young, since life becomes too busy later.” — Dana Stewart Scott
- “Your attitude, not your aptitude, will determine your altitude.” — Zig Ziglar
- “I was reading the dictionary. I thought it was a poem about everything.” — Steven Wright
- “Just believe in yourself. Even if you don’t, pretend that you do, and at some point, you will.” — Venus Williams
- “The future of the world is in my classroom today.” — Ivan Welton Fitzwater
- “You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose.” — Dr. Seuss
- “The cure for boredom is curiosity. There is no cure for curiosity.” — Dorothy Parker
- “Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new.” — Albert Einstein
- “Today a reader, tomorrow a leader.” — Margaret Fuller
- “Any time you fall over, it’s just teaching you to stand up the next time.” — Joel Edgerton
- “Too often we give children answers to remember rather than problems to solve.” — Roger Lewin
- “Although no one can go back and make a brand new start, anyone can start from now and make a brand new ending.” — Carl Bard
- “He who opens a school door, closes a prison.” — Victor Hugo
- “Don’t let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.” — John R. Wooden
- “It is time for parents to teach young people early on that in diversity there is beauty and there is strength.” — Maya Angelou
- “If you have to put someone on a pedestal, put teachers. They are society’s heroes.” — Guy Kawasaki
- “We all learn by experience, but some of us have to go to summer school.” — Peter De Vries
- “The first day of school is our second New Year’s.” — Mark Edmundson
- “They cannot stop me. I will get my education, if it is in the home, school, or anyplace.” — Malala Yousafzai
- “Better than a thousand days of diligent study is one day with a great teacher.” — Japanese Proverb
- “I like a teacher who gives you something to take home to think about besides homework.” — Lily Tomlin
- “Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.” — Benjamin Franklin (attribution traditional; original source debated)
- “Children are apt to live up to what you believe of them.” — Lady Bird Johnson
- “Do not wait until the conditions are perfect to begin. Beginning makes the conditions perfect.” — Alan Cohen
- “Teachers open the door, but you must enter by yourself.” — Chinese Proverb
- “Encourage kids to be creative without worrying about being perfect.” — Dav Pilkey
- “Minds are like parachutes; they only function when they are open.” — (Attributed to) James Dewar (attribution disputed)
- “Let us remember: one book, one pen, one child and one teacher can change the world.” — Malala Yousafzai
- “Be nice to yourself. It’s hard to be happy when someone’s mean to you all the time.” — Christine Arylo
- “The beginning is the most important part of the work.” — Plato
- “Failures are finger posts on the road to achievement.” — C. S. Lewis
- “The job of an educator is to teach students to see the vitality in themselves.” — Joseph Campbell
- “The highest result of education is tolerance.” — Helen Keller
- “I said school starts tomorrow. I didn’t say I was going to be there.” — Kim Harrison
- “Firsts are best because they are beginnings.” — Jenny Han
- “Nothing will work unless you do.” — Maya Angelou
- “Make yourself proud.” — Peter W. Smith
- “The human brain is special. It starts working as soon as you get up and it doesn’t stop until you get to school.” — Milton Berle
- “If you want more luck, take more chances. Be more active. Show up more often.” — Brian Tracy
- “You can drag my body to school but my spirit refuses to go.” — Bill Watterson
- “All the world is a laboratory to the inquiring mind.” — Martin H. Fischer
- “The secret of getting ahead is getting started.” — Mark Twain
- “Some students drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.” — E. C. McKenzie
- “You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.” — A. A. Milne
- “A sense of curiosity is nature’s original school of education.” — Smiley Blanton
- “Work hard, nap hard.” — Demi Lovato
- “Life is not about waiting for the storms to pass. It’s about learning how to dance in the rain.” — Vivian Greene
- “Be curious, not cool.” — Ken Burns
- “You can lead a boy to college, but you cannot make him think.” — Elbert Hubbard
- “You’re off to great places! Today is your day! Your mountain is waiting. So … get on your way!” — Dr. Seuss, “Oh, the Places You’ll Go!”
- “The world is full of magic things, patiently waiting for our senses to grow sharper.” — W. B. Yeats
- “Each new day is a blank page in the diary of your life. The secret of success is in turning that diary into the best story you possibly can.” — Douglas Pagels
- “Education is the key to unlocking the world, a passport to freedom.” — Oprah Winfrey
- “Life loves to be taken by the lapel and be told, ‘I am with you kid. Let’s go!’” — Maya Angelou
- “There is only one road to human greatness: through the school of hard knocks.” — Albert Einstein
- “It is always better to ask a question than to answer one.” — Lemony Snicket, “Shouldn’t You Be in School?”
- “The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.” — Eleanor Roosevelt
- “School bells are ringing, loud and clear; vacation’s over, school is here.” — Winifred C. Marshall, “School”
- “Be true to your school now, just like you would to your girl or guy. Be true to your school now and let your colors fly.” — The Beach Boys, “Be True to Your School”
- “Always believe that something wonderful is about to happen.” — Dr. Sukhraj Dhillon
- “Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.” — Arthur Ashe
- “You’d think parents are just dying to get rid of their children. I mean, we are, we most definitely are.” — Jim Gaffigan
- “Teaching kids to count is fine, but teaching them what counts is best.” — Bob Talbert
- “In learning, you will teach, and in teaching, you will learn.” — Phil Collins, “Son of Man”
- “Life is either a daring adventure or nothing.” — Helen Keller
- “You don’t have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great.” — Zig Ziglar
- “The beginning is always today.” — Mary Shelley
- “What lies behind you and what lies in front of you pales in comparison to what lies inside of you.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson
- “Education is the passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to those who prepare for it today.” — Malcolm X
- “The beautiful thing about learning is that no one can take it away from you.” — B. B. King
- “Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.” — W. B. Yeats
- “In learning, you will teach, and in teaching, you will learn.” — Phil Collins
- “The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.” — Dr. Seuss
- “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” — Nelson Mandela
- “Your education is a dress rehearsal for a life that is yours to lead.” — Nora Ephron
- “The roots of education are bitter, but the fruit is sweet.” — Aristotle
- “Learning never exhausts the mind.” — Leonardo da Vinci
- “Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful.” — Albert Schweitzer
- “If you keep your eyes open enough, oh, the stuff you will learn! The most wonderful stuff!” — Dr. Seuss, “I Can Read With My Eyes Shut!”
- “A #2 pencil and a dream can take you anywhere.” — Joyce Meyer
- “What we learn with pleasure we never forget.” — Alfred Mercier
- “I have never let my schooling interfere with my education.” — Mark Twain
- “Every student can learn, just not on the same day, or the same way.” — George Evans
- “The expert in anything was once a beginner.” — Helen Hayes
Inspirational Back-to-School Quotes For Teachers
1# “The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. Intelligence plus character – that is the goal of true education.” — Martin Luther King, Jr.
2# “Education is not preparation for life; education is life itself.” — John Dewey
3# “The only person who is educated is the has learned how to learn and change.” — Carl Rogers
4# “Teachers can change lives with just the right mix of chalk and challenges.” — Joyce Meyer
5# “A good teacher is like a candle — it consumes itself to light the way for others.” — Mustafa Kemal Atatürk
6# “Teaching is not a lost art, but the regard for it is a lost tradition.” — Jacques Barzun
7# “The art of teaching is the art of assisting discovery.” — Mark Van Doren
8# “Teachers affect eternity; no one can tell where their influence stops.” — Henry Brooks Adams
9# “The best teachers are those who show you where to look but don’t tell you what to see.” — Alexandra K. Trenfor
10# “It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge.” — Albert Einstein
11# “One book, one pen, one child, and one teacher can change the world.” — Malala Yousafzai
12# “I am not a teacher, but an awakener.” — Robert Frost
13# “Teaching is the greatest act of optimism.” — Colleen Wilcox
14# “You have to stay in school. You have to. You have to go to college. You have to get your degree. Because that’s the one thing people can’t take away from you is your education. And it is worth the investment.” — Michelle Obama
15# “You must do the things you think you cannot do.” — Eleanor Roosevelt
16# “Belonging starts with self-acceptance… Believing that you’re enough is what gives you the courage to be authentic, vulnerable, imperfect.” — Brene Brown
17# “Education doesn’t make us smarter. It makes us whole.” — Jill Biden
18# “In a global economy, where the most valuable skill you can sell is your knowledge, a good education is no longer just a pathway to opportunity, it is a prerequisite.” — Barack Obama
19# “The duties of a teacher are neither few nor small, but they elevate the mind and give energy to the character.” — Dorothea Dix
20# “Education is not the learning of many facts, but the training of the mind to think.” — Albert Einstein
Inspirational Back-to-School Quotes For Students
1# “Strive for progress, not perfection.” — Unknown
2# “You are capable of more than you know.” — E.O. Wilson
3# “Education is the most powerful weapon you can use to change the world.” — Nelson Mandela
4# “The beautiful thing about learning is that no one can take it away from you.” — B.B. King
5# “The mind is not a vessel to be filled but a fire to be ignited.” — Plutarch
6# “Do not wait to strike till the iron is hot, but make it hot by striking.” — William Butler Yeats
7# “Learning is a treasure that will follow its owner everywhere.” — Chinese Proverb
8# “Be curious, not judgmental.” — Walt Whitman
9# “Success is not final, not fatal: It is the courage to continue that counts.” — Winston Churchill
10# “Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.” — Arthur Ashe
11# “Education is not preparation for life; education is life itself.” — John Dewey
12# “The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically.” — Martin Luther King Jr.
13# “You have to be odd to be number one.” — Dr. Seuss
14# “It always seems impossible until it’s done.” — Nelson Mandela
15# “The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.” — Eleanor Roosevelt
16# “What we learn becomes a part of who we are.” — Kathy R. Jeffords
17# “The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today.” — Franklin D. Roosevelt
18# “Learn as if you were to live forever.” — Mahatma Gandhi
19# “It’s not about being the best. It’s about being better than you were yesterday.” — Unknown
20# “Dream big and dare to fail.” — Norman Vaughan
