Marva Collins, born Marva Delores Nettles

Difficult does not mean impossible.

If you can?t make a mistake, you can?t make anything.

What all good teachers have in common, however, is that they set high standards for their students and do not settle for anything less.

Once children learn how to learn, nothing is going to narrow their mind.

I have discovered few learning disabled students in my three decades of teaching. I have, however, discovered many, many victims of teaching inabilities.

Character is what you know you are, not what others think you have.

I'm a teacher. A teacher is someone who leads. There is no magic here. I do not walk on water. I do not part the sea. I just love children.

Mr. Meant-to has a friend, his name is Didn't-Do. Have you met them? They live together in a house called Never-Win. And I am told that it is haunted by the Ghost of Might-have-Been.

There is a brilliant child locked inside every student.

Don't try to fix the students, fix ourselves first. The good teacher makes the poor student good and the good student superior. When our students fail, we, as teachers, too, have failed.

Excellence is not an act but a habit. The things you do the most are the things you will do best.

Trust yourself. Think for yourself. Act for yourself. Speak for yourself. Be yourself. Imitation is suicide.

The essence of teaching is to make learning contagious, to have one idea spark another.

Determination and perseverance move the world; thinking that others will do it for you is a sure way to fail.

I cannot change the world, but I do not have to conform.

Success doesn't come to you, you go to it.