Just Sayin'

    What are your favorite character quotes?  Use these words of wisdom to spark your morning meeting discussions or as paragraph prompts; I think you'll be pleasantly surprised at your students' reflections!  You can play a game with them by copying two of each quote (choose twelve of them if you've got 24 students) and passing them out to the class. Students have to find the classmate with a matching quote so that together they can discuss what they think it means and how it relates to them before they share it with the class. Then play Sort the Quotes, putting them together by virtue they address (like caring, respect, responsibility) for an extra challenge. Finally, have students bring in their family's favorites, illustrate them, and post them on a bulletin board.  What else could you do with these sage sayings?

~When one helps another, both gain in strength. Ecuadorian proverb

~The best advice is a good example. adapted from Ossie Davis

~If you want children to keep their feet on the ground, put some responsibility on their shoulders.  Abigail Van Buren

~Kindness is not an inherited trait; it is a learned behavior. Katie Couric

~If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant. Anne Bradstreet

~When spider webs unite they can tie up a lion. Ethiopian proverb

~An ant on the move does more than a dozing ox. Mexican proverb

~Success is 10 percent inspiration and 90 percent perspiration. Thomas Edison

~A community is like a ship; everyone ought to be prepared to take the helm.  Henrik Ibsen

~Never look down on people unless you’re helping them up.  Jesse Jackson

~It’s not enough to know how to ride; one must also know how to fall. Mexican proverb

~Everybody thinks of changing humanity and nobody thinks of changing oneself.  Leo Tolstoy

~When eating a fruit, think of the person who planted the tree. Vietnamese proverb

~Behavior is a much better barometer of what you are than words. Wayne Dyer

~Live so that when your children think of fairness and integrity, they think of you.  H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

~A lie has speed, but the truth has endurance.  Edgar Mohn

~The honor we receive from those that fear us is not honor.  Montaigne Essays

~We pay a price when we deprive children of the exposure to the values, principles, and education they need to make them good citizens.  Sandra Day O'Connor 

~Most people see what is, and never see what can be. Albert Einstein

~No one has ever become poor by giving.  Anne Frank

~To educate a person in the mind but not the morals is to educate a menace to society.  Theodore Roosevelt

~The liar’s punishment is not in the least that he is not believed, but that he cannot believe anyone else.  George Bernard Shaw

~The best way to teach morality is to make it a habit with children. Aristotle

~I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.  Maya Angelou

~Real generosity is doing something nice for someone who will never find out.  Frank A. Clark