Glasser Quotes & Sayings

Good or bad, everything we do is our best choice at that moment. — William Glasser

Told that the passing grade is a B or competence and that we will help you to get there, students do competent work. The lowest passing grade in the real world is competence. Why do schools accept so much less? — William Glasser

When night comes, something speaks
from that soft, fragrant wilderness.
It says, the heart is not a door. But it opens.
We feel in the dark for the hinge. — Carole Glasser Langille

As long as acquiring knowledge is the educational goal of schools, educational opportunities will be limited, as they are now, to affluent families. — William Glasser

Sex is on the minds of most people, especially those who shouldn't be having it. — William Glasser

I think it is totally wrong and terribly harmful if education is defined as acquiring knowledge. — William Glasser

We don't focus as much in schools on educational knowledge which requires thinking and application, as we do on acquiring facts. — William Glasser

To counter the avoidance of intellectual challenge and responsibility, we must reduce the domination of certainty in education. — William Glasser

Using no control and using humor will build a relationship and make a dent to where the client puts the counselor in their quality world and then begins to relate and seek out the counselor. Effective therapy begins with the acceptance of the therapist into the client's quality world. — William Glasser

Choice Theory explains that, for all practical purposes, we choose everything we do. — William Glasser

Some truly bad writing, but brilliantly funny at the same time.
"When he was yet a million miles away the bright ring of fire that marked its portal filled the sky in front of him, flexing and twisting like the devil's anus in spasms of immortal agony. — Alan Glasser

Civil liberties victories never stay won, but must be fought for over and over again. — Ira Glasser

If you improve education by teaching for competence, eliminating schooling, and connecting with students, the test scores will improve. — William Glasser

Unlike the weak, the strong neither give up nor are driven by pain into rash or stupid behavior. They don't like pain any more than anyone else, but they are not willing to settle for short-term relief if it means reducing their options later. They don't rob Peter to pay Paul, they face reality now. — William Glasser

What we get, and all we ever get, from the outside is information; how we choose to act on this information is up to us. — William Glasser

There are only two places in the world where time takes precedence over the job to be done. School and prison. — William Glasser

When we label anyone 'bad', we will have more trouble dealing with him than if we could have settled for a lesser label. — William Glasser

What happened in the past that was painful has a great deal to do with what we are today. — William Glasser

To become more effective, you must learn what these people have learned: how you feel is not controlled by others or events. You are not the physical or psychological slave of your parents, husband, wife, child, boss, the economy, or anything else unless you choose to be. — William Glasser

You will be pleased to know I stand obediently for the national anthem, though of course I would defend your right to remain seated should you so decide. — Ira Glasser

The Compassionate Classroom is a fabulous book! If teachers will read it, they can transform their classrooms. — William Glasser

William Glasser: "We learn 10 percent of what we read, 20 percent of what we hear, 30 percent of what we see, 50 percent of what we see and hear, 70 percent of what we discuss, 80 percent of what we experience, and 95 percent of what we teach others. — Bill Capodagli

When we depress, we believe we are the victims of a feeling over which we have no control. — William Glasser

Today much of what we call education is merely knowledge gathering and remembering. Problem solving and thinking, never strong parts of our educational system, have been downgraded in all but a few scientific subjects. — William Glasser

There's no regifting the present — Robin Glasser

It is almost impossible for anyone, even the most ineffective among us, to continue to choose misery after becoming aware that it is a choice. — William Glasser

Words to live by: If at first you don't succeed, skydiving is not for you. — Robin Glasser

There is plenty of competition in a Glasser Quality School in that there is winning but no losing. — William Glasser

The ultimate use of power is to empower others. — William Glasser

A friend of mine, a dedicated golfer, shot a hole in one playing by himself. Disaster. — William Glasser

I think education is both using and improving knowledge and that changes the whole picture. — William Glasser

I wrote this HAIKU cuz today NYC definitely looks like a wonderland. ENJOY
what is winter but
a pastry chef gone crazy
frosting all in sight
Robin Glasser
have fun in the snow — Robin Glasser

They have this big book called the 'DSM-IV,' you know, that is supposedly written about crazy people, but I think it is a book that is written by crazy people! — William Glasser

The day we stop playing will be the day we stop learning. — William Glasser

In the solitude of death, the young child or the mature adult can turn to another for comfort without feeling childish or dependent. The newly emancipated, self-sufficient young adult may have too much personal pride to allow himself to accept the support and the understanding he so desperately needs as he moves toward death. The specific emotional reaction of the newly mature young man to the prospect of personal death is RAGE. He feels that life is completely within his grasp so that death above all else is the great ravisher and destroyer. These mature young men who have worked, trained and striven to reach self-confidence and self-sufficiency now appreciate what they can do and what they can enjoy and that suddenly it will all end. They are so ready to live, to them death is a brutal, personal attack, an unforgivable insult, a totally unacceptable event. — Ronald J. Glasser

No human being will work hard at anything unless they believe that they are working for competence. — William Glasser

We can teach a lot of things, but if the teacher can't relate by talking to a group of friendly students, he'll never be a competent teacher. — William Glasser

Without pay, no human being will work up to their ability if he or she is not cared for and respected. — William Glasser

The first exception [to the First Amendment] will not be the last. — Ira Glasser

To focus on discipline is to ignore the real problem: We will never be able to get students (or anyone else) to be in good order if, day after day, we try to force them to do what they do not find satisfying. — William Glasser

We can pay teachers a hundred thousand dollars a year, and we'll do nothing to improve our schools as long as we keep the A, B, C, D, F grading system. — William Glasser

If we had in this room a hundred teachers, good teachers from good schools, and asked them to define the word education, there would be very little general agreement. — William Glasser

The major difference between heroin and alcohol is that, contrary to popular belief, heroin has no physically harmful effect. Alcohol is physically harmful to the brain, to the liver, to the nerve endings, eventually perhaps even to the stomach and intestines. Both drugs seem equally addicting, and why a person chooses one over another is probably based on experience, on availability, on legality, and on some personal idiosyncrasy not yet understood. What we do know is that the drugs work to relieve the pain and provide pleasure — William Glasser

Effective teaching may be the hardest job there is. — William Glasser

When you study great teachers ... you will learn much more from their caring and hard work than from their style. — William Glasser

WHAT A CONCUBINE SHOULD NEVER SAY: You wanna swing? Fine! See that tree branch? The one with the rope ... — Robin Glasser

We learn ...
10% of what we read
20% of what we hear
30% of what we see
50% of what we both hear and see
70% of what is discussed
80% of what we experience personally
95% of what we teach to someone else — William Glasser

We are driven by five genetic needs: survival, love and belonging, power, freedom, and fun. — William Glasser

Don't marry someone you would not be friends with if there was no sex between you. — William Glasser

Since there will be no one left to talk peace after the next war, it makes good sense to break with tradition and hold the peace conference first. — William Glasser

Prior to being allowed to enter the profession, prospective teachers should be asked to talk with a group of friendly students for at least half an hour and be able to engage them in an interesting conversation about any subject the prospective teacher wants to talk about. — William Glasser

NEW HAIKU
One breathy vowel
mists the glass warming window
panes crystalled with snow
Robin Glasser — Robin Glasser

It is difficult to live in such a way that all our relationships are in effective control, and usually it doesn't make that much difference as long as some relationships are satisfying. But when you get sick, it is a good idea to review all of them. Some may be more rankling than you are willing to admit. You can review these relationships by yourself; with the help of a friend or family member you trust; with your doctor if he or she can give you the time; or, best of all, with the aid of a good counselor. — William Glasser

Since the obvious purpose of pain, misery, and suffering is to tell you something is wrong, fix it, change it, reform, improve, get help; if you don't have the strength to do it, you are stuck with the pain. This is not to say that people with strength don't suffer - they do. They have no immunity to life, but when they feel pain, they get moving or at least they try to do something, and the more strength they have the more successful their efforts are. — William Glasser

Every single major push in education has made it worse and right now it's really bad because everything we've done is de-humanizing education. It's destroying the possibility of the teacher and the student having a warm, friendly, intellectual relationship. — William Glasser

The answer lies in preventing failures not in looking for better ways to fix the children who are failing. — William Glasser

The faster you go, the more students you leave behind. It doesn't matter how much or how fast you teach. The true measure is how much students have learned. — William Glasser

WHAT A CONCUBINE SHOULD NEVER SAY:
In your case, ED is not a man's name. — Robin Glasser

If everyone could learn that what is right for me does not make it right for anyone else, the world would be a much happier place. — William Glasser

What students lack in school is an intellectual relationship or conversation with the teacher. — William Glasser

People are more motivated and confident when they believe they have more control over their environment. "People with low-power mindsets do less than they otherwise could," said one motivation researcher (Rigoglioso, 2008). Inviting students to have a voice in classroom decisions - where they sit, what day a test takes place, in what order units are studied, or even where a plant should be placed in the classroom - can help them develop that greater sense of control. An added benefit to this strategy could be fewer discipline issues. William Glasser suggests that power is a key need of students, and that 95% of classroom management problems happen because students are trying to fulfill that need (Ryan & Cooper, 2008, p. 85). — Larry Ferlazzo

In a Glasser Quality School there is no such thing as a closed book test. Students are told to get out their notes and open their books. There is no such thing as being forbidden to ask the teacher or another student for help. — William Glasser

The notion of religious liberty is that you cannot be forced to participate in a religious ceremony that's not of your choosing simply because you're out-voted. — Ira Glasser

To be depressed or neurotic is passive. It has happened to all of us; we are its victims, are we have no control over it. — William Glasser

This is at the heart of all good education, where the teacher asks students to think and engages them in encouraging dialogues, constantly checking for understanding and growth. — William Glasser

You can acquire a lot of knowledge without ever going to school. — William Glasser

Caring for but never trying to own may be a further way to define friendship. — William Glasser

I found this quote for writers on Twitter:
There is a fine line between confidence and delusional thought; cross it.
Don't know who wrote it but thought it was interesting. — Robin Glasser

The more a person perceives that he/she is loved, the less they will interfere with the lives of others. — William Glasser

Education is the process in which we discover that learning adds quality to our lives. Learning must be experienced. — William Glasser

Addiction, that is, negative addiction, is the third, and in terms of pain, essentially successful choice in the series of choices made by people who are unable to find sufficient love and worth. Each choice - from the initial decision to give up trying to find love or worth, the second choice to take on one or more symptoms, and the final choice of becoming addicted - is a pain-reducing step. The reason addiction is powerful and difficult to break is that it alone of all the choices consistently both completely relieves the pain of failure, and provides an intensely pleasurable experience. — William Glasser

Don't let your ego write checks your character can't cash.
another from the world of tweets — Robin Glasser

Too many of us fail to fulfill our needs because we say no rather than yes, or perhaps later in life, yes when we should say no. — William Glasser

Everybody needs one essential friend. — William Glasser

Running a school where the students all succeed, even if some students have to help others to make the grade, is good preparation for democracy. — William Glasser

We may be up against a stone wall, but we don't have to bloody our heads against it unless we choose to. — William Glasser

The redhead could sling mud at him and he'd get hard. — Robin Glasser

It is no kindness to treat unhappy people as helpless, hopeless, or inadequate, no matter what has happened to them. Kindness is having faith in the truth and that people can handle it and use it for their benefit. True compassion is helping people help themselves. — William Glasser

We almost always have choices, and the better the choice, the more we will be in control of our lives. — William Glasser