I love Shakespeare. In Shakespeare, tragedy is not just something that's bad. It's something that could be good and is bad.

That's the beauty of art--we strive for perfection but never achieve it. The journey is everything.

The reason I love teaching, it's like being a miner. I find all these undiscovered jewels and, with the right motivation, they're amazed at what they can do. I have to show them their capability.

I want my students to love to read. Reading is not a subject. Reading is a foundation of life, an activity that people who are engaged with the world do all the time

It’s not the job of the teacher to save a child’s soul; it is the teacher’s job to provide an opportunity for the child to save his own soul.

I don't think we expect enough of students. They just need someone to show them the way.

Teach like your hair's on fire!

I want my kids to know that they're just as good and just as American as Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, or Dr. Martin Luther King. My worst fear is they will become ordinary.

Good teachers are an endangered species because they're giving up because of the tests and everything.

Baseball is a religion in my classroom. It's a very important part of life, baseball.

I always tell the kids that excellence is like pregnancy. You can't be a little bit pregnant. You either are or you're not.

B.I.B.L.E. = Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth.

The best place to find a helping hand is at the end of your own arm.

Find a need and fill it. Successful businesses are founded on the needs of people.

Actually, every time I am back in New York, I read for as many plays as I can.

Fortune never seems so blind to any as to those on whom she bestows no favors.

Young people who were relaxed about posting every detail of their life on Facebook become a lot less relaxed when they realise just how transparent their life has become to future employers.

My dad and I get into it all the time. He loves to discuss politics much more than I do and we have pretty heated conversations.

The wisest and noblest teacher is nature itself.

As long as we are engaged in storytelling that moves the culture forward, it doesn't matter what format it is.

Camden was originally an accident, but I shall never be sorry I was left over in Camden. It has brought me blessed returns.