Teaching Tips Archive

Interpreting Quotations

Quotations can inspire and educate your students. Here are some quotations. Have your students discuss what they think is meant by the quotation.

I think and think for months and years. Ninety-nine times, the conclusion is false. The hundredth time I am right. (Albert Einstein)
Man's capacity for evil makes democracy necessary, and man's capacity for good makes democracy possible. (Reinhold Niebuhr, American theologian)
Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power. (Abraham Lincoln)
There is no king who has not had a slave among his ancestors, and no slave who has not had a king among his. (Helen Keller)
Character, not circumstances, makes the man. (Booker T. Washington)

Have your students locate and discuss other quotations.