78 back-to-school quotes to inspire students, parents and teachers for the year ahead (2024)

It's officially back-to-school season, meaning the time has come to sharpen those pencils and pack up your book bag for yet another year.

As always, returning to the classroom brings a mixture of anxiety and excitement over what the new school year brings. Of course, it's also the kick off to autumn, falling leaves and the return of sweater weather.

In honor of the occasion, we've gathered our favorite back-to-school quotes to use on Instagram, drop into a text or jot down on a note to tuck into your child's lunchbox.

In the list below, you'll find a variety of messages written or spoken by luminaries like Ralph Waldo Emerson, Mark Twain, Dr. Seuss, Michelle Obama, Maya Angelou and a host of others.

There are also plenty of funny quotes to use however you see fit, including one from comedian Jim Gaffigan who once quipped, “You’d think parents are just dying to get rid of their children. I mean, we are, we most definitely are.”

Looking for short or inspirational quotes? Those are here, too, like this gem that totally captures the end-of-summer sentiment: “School bells are ringing, loud and clear; Vacation’s over, school is here.”

Whichever back-to-school quote you decide on, this much is certain: These timely and happy messages will earn you a spot on the honor roll.

Short Back-to-School Quotes

• “You’re off to great places! Today is your day! Your mountain is waiting. So ... get on your way!” — Dr. Seuss, “Oh, the Places You’ll Go!”
• “The world is full of magic things, patiently waiting for our senses to grow sharper.” — W.B. Yeats
• “Each new day is a blank page in the diary of your life. The secret of success is in turning that diary into the best story you possibly can.” — Douglas Pagels

• “School bells are ringing, loud and clear; Vacation’s over, school is here.” ― Winifred C. Marshall, “School”
• “Wake up! Wake up! C’mon, first day of school!” ― Nemo, “Finding Nemo”
• “Be true to your school now, just like you would to your girl or guy. Be true to your school now and let your colors fly.” ― The Beach Boys, “Be True to Your School”
• “Holidays are over people. Way over. Now, anymore comments? Questions?” Ms. Darbus, “High School Musical”
• “Be the best of whatever you are.” — Martin Luther King, Jr.

• “Always believe that something wonderful is about to happen.” ― Dr. Sukhraj Dhillon
• “Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.” — Arthur Ashe
• “You don’t have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great.” — Zig Ziglar
• “The beginning is always today.” — Mary Shelley
• “What lies behind you and what lies in front of you, pales in comparison to what lies inside of you.” ― Ralph Waldo Emerson

• “Education is the key to unlocking the world,a passport to freedom.” — Oprah Winfrey
• “Life loves to be taken by the lapel and be told, ‘I am with you kid. Let’s go!’” — Maya Angelou
• “There is only one road to human greatness: through the school of hard knocks.” — Albert Einstein
• “It is always better to ask a question than to answer one.”―Lemony Snicket,“Shouldn’t You Be in School?”
• “The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.” ― Eleanor Roosevelt

• “You’d think parents are just dying to get rid of their children. I mean, we are, we most definitely are.” ― Jim Gaffigan
• “Teaching kids to count is fine, but teaching them what counts is best.” Bob Talbert
• “In learning you will teach, and in teaching you will learn.” Phil Collins, “Son of Man”
• “Life is either a daring adventure or nothing.” ―Helen Keller

• “If you keep your eyes open enough, oh, the stuff you will learn! The most wonderful stuff!” —Dr. Seuss, “I Can Read With My Eyes Shut!”
• “A #2 pencil and a dream can take you anywhere.” — Joyce Meyer
• “What we learn with pleasure we never forget.” — Alfred Mercier
• “I have never let my schooling interfere with my education.” — Mark Twain

• “The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” — Lao Tzu
• “Education is what remains after one has forgotten what one has learned in school.” — Albert Einstein
• “I like a teacher who gives you something to take home to think about besides homework.” — Lily Tomlin
• “No one is perfect. That’s why pencils have erasers.” — Wolfgang Riebe, “100 Quotes to Make You Think”

Inspirational Back-to-School Quotes

• “No matter what people tell you, words and ideas can change the world.” ― Robin Williams, “Dead Poets Society”
• “Everything is hard before it is easy.”— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
• “The beginning is always today.” — Mary Shelley
• “Life starts all over again when it gets crisp in the fall.” — F. Scott Fitzgerald

• “Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day in and day out.” — Robert Collier
• “Today a reader, tomorrow a leader.” — Margaret Fuller
• “Before anything else, preparation is the key to success.” — Alexander Graham Bell
• “In school, you’re taught a lesson and then given a test. In life, you’re given a test that teaches you a lesson.” — Tom Bodett

• “The great aim of education is not knowledge but action.” — Herbert Spencer
• “You don’t just luck into things as much as you’d think you do. You build by step, whether it’s friendships or opportunities.” — Barbara Bush
• “You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose.” — Dr. Seuss
• “School is a building which has four walls with tomorrow inside.” — Lon Watters
• “You must do the things you think you cannot do.” — Eleanor Roosevelt

• “You can learn something every day if you pay attention.” — Ray LeBlond.
• “Think about every problem, every challenge we face. The solution starts with education.” — George H.W. Bush
• “Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new.” — Albert Einstein
• “Our goal must be decency and respect for every human we encounter.” — Oprah Winfrey
• “Education doesn’t make us smarter. It makes us whole.” — Jill Biden

• “The dream begins, most of the time, with a teacher who believes in you, who tugs and pushes and leads you on to the next plateau, sometimes poking you with a sharp stick called truth.” — Dan Rather
• “Children must be taught how to think, not what to think.” — Margaret Mead
• “Education is the most powerful weapon you can use to change the world.” — Nelson Mandela
• “Nothing prevents boredom like a good book.” — Dave Pilkey
• “Our passion is and always should be to make life better.” — Martha Stewart

• “I’ve always loved the first day of school better than the last day of school. Firsts are best because they are beginnings.” — Jenny Han, “To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before”
• “Knowledge — that is, education in its true sense — is our best protection against unreasoning prejudice and panic-making fear. — Franklin D. Roosevelt
• “You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.” — A.A. Milne,“Winnie the Pooh”
• “Being fearless isn’t being 100% not fearful, it’s being terrified but you jump anyway.” — Taylor Swift

Back-to-School Quotes for Teachers

• “Read. Read. Read. Just don’t read one type of book. Read different books by various authors so that you develop different styles.” — R.L. Stine
• “Educating the mind without educating theheartis no education at all.” — Aristotle
• “There’s more treasure in books than in all the pirate’s loot on Treasure Island.” — Walt Disney
• “Intelligence plus character — that is the true goal of education.” — Martin Luther King Jr.

• “The road to freedom — here and everywhere on earth — begins in the classroom.” — Hubert Humphrey.
• “The more that you read, the more things you know, the more learn, the more places you’ll go.” — Dr. Seuss, “I Can Read With My Eyes Shut!”
• “Encourage kids to be creative without worrying about being perfect.” —Dav Pilkey
• “Let us remember: One book, one pen, one child, and one teacher can change the world.” — Malala Yousafzai

• “Education is the passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to those who prepare for it today.” — Malcolm X
• “There is no single recipe for success. But there is one essential ingredient: passion.” — Martha Stewart
• “The capacity to learn is a gift; the ability to learn is a skill; the willingness to learn is a choice.” — Brian Herbert
• “The future of our nation depends on providing our children with a complete education that includes music.” — Gerald Ford
• “You don’t become what you want, you become what you believe.” — Oprah Winfrey

• “Dreams come a size too big so we can grow into them.” — Josie Bissett
• “Our greatest natural resource is in the minds of our children.” — Walt Disney
• “Minds are like parachutes, they only function when they are open.” — James Dewar
• “Information may be free, an education is priceless.” — Marie Forleo

• “Education is simply the soul of a society as it passes from one generation to another.” — G.K. Chesterton
• “The most important day of a person’s education is the first day of school, not graduation day.” — Harry Wong
• “Give a girl an education and introduce her properly into the world, and ten to one but she has the means of settling well, without further expense to anybody.” — Jane Austen, “Mansfield Park”
• “There’s power in allowing yourself to be known and heard, in owning your unique story, in using your authentic voice. And there’s grace in being willing to know and hear others.” — Michelle Obama, “Becoming”