Mentoring Quotes

“Children must be taught how to think, not what to think.”
― Margaret Mead

“Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn.”
― Benjamin Franklin

“Do not train a child to learn by force or harshness; but direct them to it by what amuses their minds, so that you may be better able to discover with accuracy the peculiar bent of the genius of each.”
― Plato

“The mind is not a vessel to be filled, but a fire to be kindled.”
― Plutarch

“I am not a teacher, but an awakener.”
― Robert Frost

“Spoon feeding in the long run teaches us nothing but the shape of the spoon.”
― E.M. Forster

“The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires.”
― William Arthur Ward

“What is a teacher? I'll tell you: it isn't someone who teaches something, but someone who inspires the student to give of her best in order to discover what she already knows.”
― Paulo Coelho, The Witch of Portobello

“In learning you will teach, and in teaching you will learn.”
― Phil Collins

“No one learns as much about a subject as one who is forced to teach it.”
― Peter Drucker

“The best teacher is not the one who knows most but the one who is most capable of reducing knowledge to that simple compound of the obvious and wonderful.”
― H.L. Mencken

“What I've found about it is that there are some folks you can talk to until you're blue in the face--they're never going to get it and they're never going to change. But every once in a while, you'll run into someone who is eager to listen, eager to learn, and willing to try new things. Those are the people we need to reach. We have a responsibility as parents, older people, teachers, people in the neighborhood to recognize that.”
― Tyler Perry, Don't Make a Black Woman Take Off Her Earrings: Madea's Uninhibited Commentaries on Love and Life

“True education does not consist merely in the acquiring of a few facts of science, history, literature, or art, but in the development of character.”
― David O. McKay

“Teach them the quiet verbs of kindness, to live beyond themselves. Urge them toward excellence, drive them toward gentleness, pull them deep into yourself, pull them upward toward manhood, but softly like an angel arranging clouds. Let your spirit move through them softly.”
― Pat Conroy, The Prince of Tides

“Remember that mentor leadership is all about serving. Jesus said, “For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45).”
― Tony Dungy, The Mentor Leader: Secrets to Building People and Teams That Win Consistently

“Every beginner possesses a great potential to be an expert in his or her chosen field.”
― Lailah Gifty Akita, Think Great: Be Great!

“Leaders..should influence others..in such a way that it builds people up, encourages and edifies them so they can duplicate this attitude in others.”
― Bob Goshen

“Mentors have a way of seeing more of our faults that we would like. It's the only way we grow.”
― George Lucas, Star Wars: Episode 2 Attack of the Clones

“Mentoring is: Sharing Life's Experiences and God's Faithfulness”
― Janet Thompson, Dear God, He's Home!: A Woman's Guide to Her Stay-at-Home Man

“The mediocre leader tells. The good leader explains. The superior leader demonstrates. The great leader inspires.”
― Gary F. Patton

“—Help these boys build a nation their own. Ransack the histories for clues to their past. Plunder the literatures for words they can speak. And should you encounter an ancient tribe whose customs, however dimly, cast light on their hearts, tell them that tale; and you shall name the unspeakable names of your kind, and in that naming, in each such telling, they will falter a step to the light.
"—For only with pride may a man prosper. With pride, all things follow. Without he have pride he is a shadowy skulk whose season is night. ”
― Jamie O'Neill, At Swim, Two Boys

“I rather mistrust young men who slip into life gracefully.”
― E.M. Forster, A Room with a View

“I never heard that it had been anybody’s business to find out what his natural bent was, or where his failings lay, or to adapt any kind of knowledge to him. He had been adapted to the verses and had learnt the art of making them to such perfection. I did doubt whether Richard would not have profited by some one studying him a little, instead of his studying them quite so much.”
― Charles Dickens, Bleak House

“If there is a single factor that spells out the difference between the cafeteria fringe headed for greatness and those doomed for low self-worth, even more than a caring teacher or a group of friends, it is supportive, accepting parents who not only love their children unconditionally, but also don't make them feel as if their idiosyncrasies qualify as "conditions" in the first place.”
― Alexandra Robbins, The Geeks Shall Inherit the Earth: Popularity, Quirk Theory and Why Outsiders Thrive After High School

“The point of mentoring someone, after all, is to help that person get ahead. But these moments can also serve as a wake-up call to a mentor that things have shifted and changed, and that is not always a welcome change. People like to feel needed, so if you don't need your mentor/sponsor/etc... anymore, it can feel like a punch to the gut for that person. They might feel jeaous or surprised or simply unprepared, and that can put a strain on your relationship. But this is part of your growth, and growth always comes with its own set of challenges.”
― Lauren Wesley Wilson, What Do You Need?: How Women of Color Can Take Ownership of Their Careers to Accelerate Their Path to Success

“Some people make their own opportunities. Others need someone to help them know what they want.”
― C.B. Lansdell, The Tidelings of Dras Sayve: A Novelette

“Healing your past with the help of a healer or life-mentor might be an easier strategy than passively waiting for mercy and wasting many years in suffering.”
― Master Del Pe, Higher Science of Longevity

“A mentor’s role isn’t to fix your path but to disrupt your inertia, forcing you to explore new directions.”
― Abhysheq Shukla

“Great mentors don’t just answer questions—they question your answers, disrupting the way you think & act.”
― Abhysheq Shukla

“I’ve never been one to call myself a 'fan' of anyone or anything. I just believed that role models—those we truly admire—should ideally be someone close to us, like a relative or someone who directly impacts our lives. (BLOG - Deion Sanders: A Coach, A Father, A Blueprint for Success)”
― Carlos Wallace