Jonathan Kozol Quotes

I would like to learn, or remember, how to live.

Play is the royal road to childhood happiness and adult brilliance.

Childhood play is nothing more than an expression of our individuality and preparation for human interaction.

Abundant research has shown that children raised by two parents in an ongoing union are more likely to develop the self-discipline and self-confidence that make for success in life …

Children live in a world filled with possibilities. Their thoughts roam without boundaries, like dreams – full of images, places and actions. Unlike adults, they can’t temper their imaginations with experience. So, when a child plays with a toy or reads a story, it becomes an adventure, a new reality to them.

Education can become a self-fulfilling activity, liberating in and of itself.

You can't just keep telling a story the same way over and over again. And I think it only helps the world to be more honest with young kids, to show them the world that they go walk outside and see.

'Who do you think you are?' That's the big one, isn't it? A flourishing life depends on how you answer that.

Your creative life can continue to just turn inside out and evolve in ways that you can't possibly imagine, whether or not you decide to be a parent. It doesn't matter.

Without theater, I don't think I would have thought I was a smart person or excelled at anything.

Education is a work of self-organization by which man adapts himself to the conditions of life.

I believe a child's most important job is to explore the world around them through play.

In life, you should be allowed to express yourself. People are happier like this.

Education brings a sense of confidence and self-worth to yourself.

See, it's not until you start accepting who you are that you can really find success, or more importantly, happiness.

I was a very shy kid. Very shy. But I started doing theatre when I was six years old, and that really changed something. My more playful side came out of me.

In terms of my childhood, it was normal. You go through school, do well in school, and then I went to university. The performance arts aspect was never really an option because it was never in my family. Nobody was there to teach me anything about that. It wasn't until maybe my second year of university that I got inspired to dance.

When you are young, you just want to play as many games as you can.

I think what kids do is play.

We are all good at things - a varied assortment of things - and we all desperately need to find out what those things are for our self-esteem. If there is anything young people need, it is confidence and an identity and a purpose.

Every kid likes to be read to, or just even have an adult play with them, no matter if it's little girls with a tea party or boys playing in the dirt, it's all part of being a kid. It's something we all went through.

I had a great childhood. My priorities were straight.

Real happiness comes from discovering a sense of importance in one's actions and in one's life.

'Parava,' in my head, was always a film about children. And I was like, 'If I can be part of the film and help promote it in some way or the other, I'd be very happy.' I also did 'Ann Maria' because it was a story about kids.

I was going to Hartford High School and when the theater bug hit, it hit hard and it saved my life. It gave me focus, direction and purpose.