Max Brooks Quotes

A child who can't read isn't going to get better because you told him he was bad.

A lot of children, like I did, move away from words because of the fear - which is something you have to take out of education: the fear of worrying about what marks you'll get, detention, worrying about letting people down, your parents, teachers.

I had a terrible education. I attended a school for emotionally disturbed teachers.

Ask any successful person, and most will tell you that they had a person who believed in them... a teacher, a friend, a parent, a guardian, a sister, a grandmother. It only takes one person, and it doesn't really matter who it is.

Sometimes all you need is just for somebody to believe in you in order to be able to accomplish maybe what you never thought you could.

Fear is not a good teacher. The lessons of fear are quickly forgotten.

We expert teachers know that motivation and emotional impact are what matter.

It is worth while too to warn the teacher that undue severity in correcting faults is liable at times to discourage a boy's mind from effort.

I had a Spanish teacher in high school. I rarely got in trouble in her room because I felt I was disappointing her if I got a bad grade. That had more power over me than teachers who told me I talked too much. That level of respect I had for her made me not want to fail for her.

Every writing teacher I ever had except for one told me I was an awful writer, had no idea what I was doing, and should stop immediately. It only took the one to tell me something different to light a fire under me.

I'm dense when it comes to discouragement.

As a former high school teacher and a student in a class of 60 urchins at St. Brigid's grammar school, I know that education is all about discipline and motivation. Disadvantaged students need extra attention, a stable school environment, and enough teacher creativity to stimulate their imaginations. Those things are not expensive.

The teachers were focused on helping these students. The students benefited from hands-on teaching and a faculty who cared about them and their success in life and soon the students began to believe in themselves and the reality that they could make something of their lives.

One of the things I learned the hard way was that it doesn't pay to get discouraged. Keeping busy and making optimism a way of life can restore your faith in yourself.

Teachers started recognizing me and praising me for being smart in science and that made me want to be even smarter in science!

It's so sad, actually, how teachers and parents tell their kids, 'You're never gonna be anything.'

I got lucky. To be frank, I was surrounded by white teachers who never did the whole, 'You're never going to amount to nothing' thing you hear about in the South. Instead, they would say, 'You're really smart. You can do this.' If I hadn't gotten that, I don't know where I'd be.

Through my education, I didn't just develop skills, I didn't just develop the ability to learn, but I developed confidence.

I went to public school, and I didn't do well in school. And it wasn't until, actually, I got into school at Juilliard - it was the first time in my life that I thought, 'Oh, maybe I'm not stupid,' because I was so inspired and passionate about what I was learning, and it was the first time in my life I had felt that.

I remember my seventh-grade chemistry teacher told me I'd never amount to anything. I thought, 'Hmm. OK.' That gave me motivation to prove her wrong.

You want to do everything you can so your child has every tool to succeed.

Nothing makes you try harder than to be told that you are not good enough or that you simply do not have the skills.

I love when people tell me what I can't do.

When I hear people say that they don't think that I can do something or they don't think I belong somewhere, that's all it takes for me to prove them wrong, and it's motivation.

The wrong kind of praise creates self-defeating behavior. The right kind motivates students to learn.