Starting back to school can be an exciting, yet stressful time for both students and parents. It’s not just about buying the best pencils or new clothes for the first day of school – it’s about embracing the start of a new journey with enthusiasm and setting yourself up for success.

Being open to learning new things and making friends along the way is key to having a successful academic year.

Whether you’re excited to get back in the groove of homework after summer break or dreading early classes, here are 100 quotes that offer words of inspiration and wisdom as you prepare for back-to-school season!

100 Quotes, Sayings & Captions About Getting Back To School

  1. Pretending to concentrate in class so the teacher won’t ask you a question. – Anonymous
  2. Every time I see the word explain on a test, a part of me dies. – Anonymous
  3. Give a bowl of rice to a man and you will feed him for a day. Teach him how to grow his own rice and you will save his life. – Confucius
  4. I like a teacher who gives you something to take home to think about besides homework. – Lily Tomlin
  5. The larger the island of knowledge, the longer the shoreline of wonder.  – Ralph W. Sockman
  6. All the world is a laboratory to the inquiring mind. – Martin H. Fischer
  7. I am always ready to learn although I do not always like being taught. – Winston Churchill
  8. Learn as much as you can while you are young since life becomes too busy later. – Dana Stewart Scott
  9. The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn and relearn. – Alvin Toffler
  10. We all learn by experience but some of us have to go to summer school. – Peter De Vries,
  11. Smartness runs in my family. When I went to school I was so smart my teacher was in my class for five years. – Gracie Allen
  12. Education is what remains after one has forgotten what one has learned in school. – Albert Einstein
  13. Training is everything. The peach was once a bitter almond; cauliflower is nothing but cabbage with a college education. – Mark Twain
  14. Education’s purpose is to replace an empty mind with an open one. – Malcolm S. Forbes
  15. The founding fathers… provided jails called schools, equipped with tortures called education. School is where you go between when your parents can’t take you and industry can’t take you. – John Updike
  16. The only person you are destined to become is the person you decide to be. – Ralph Waldo Emerson
  17. You can’t control the direction of the wind, but you can adjust your sails. – Jimmy Dean
  18. Don’t let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.
  19. The best way to predict your future is to create it. – Abraham Lincoln
  20. The beginning is the most important part of the work. – Plato
  21. You’re off to great places. Today is your day! – Dr. Seuss
  22. Learn from yesterday, live for today, and hope for tomorrow. – Albert Einstein
  23. The roots of education are bitter, but the fruit is sweet. – Aristotle
  24. Education is the key to unlocking the world, a passport to freedom. – Oprah Winfrey
  25. Intelligence plus character – that is the true goal of education. – Martin Luther King
  26. You can never be overdressed or overeducated. – Oscar Wilde
  27. This is a new year. A new beginning. And things will change. – Taylor Swift
  28. If a man empties his purse into his head, no man can take it away from him. An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest. – Ben Franklin
  29. Education is the most powerful weapon you can use to change the world. – Nelson Mandela
  30. The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams. – Eleanor Roosevelt
  31. Respect your parents. They passed school without Google. – Anonymous
  32. Education can get you the only thing that really matters in today’s world–an assigned parking space. – Gene Perret
  33. School is a building which has four walls with tomorrow inside. – Lon Watters
  34. If you think your teachers are tough, wait ‘til you get a boss. – Bill Gates
  35. There’s more treasure in books than in all the pirate’s loot on Treasure Island. – Walt Disney
  36. Those who don’t know history are doomed to repeat it. – Edmund Burke
  37. School bells are ringing loud and clear; vacation’s over, and school is here. – Winifred C. Marshal
  38. You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself in any direction you choose. – Dr. Seuss
  39. I like a teacher who gives you something to take home to think about besides homework. – Lily Tomlin
  40. A sense of curiosity is nature’s original school of education. – Smiley Blanton
  41. First day of school, make sure that you know your locker combination. – Jordan Francis
  42. School is the easiest job you’ll ever have. – Marty Klazmer
  43. School is a lot like toilet paper. You only miss it when it’s gone. – Anonymous
  44. There is nothing on earth intended for innocent people so horrible as a school. – George Bernard Shaw
  45. It’s not that I hate school. I just hate waking up early in the morning. – Unknown
  46. The mind is not a vessel to be filled but a fire to be ignited. – Plutarch
  47. All the world is a laboratory to the inquiring mind. – Martin H. Fischer
  48. Education is not preparation for life; education is life itself. – John Dewey
  49. Work hard, be kind, and amazing things will happen. – Conan O’ Brien
  50. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up, and show up. – Regina Brett
  51. Don’t let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do. – John Wooden
  52. Everything is a learning process: Any time you fall over, it’s just teaching you to stand up the next time. – Joel Edgerton
  53. The roots of education are bitter, but the fruit is sweet. – Aristotle
  54. You aren’t learning anything when you’re talking. – Lyndon B. Johnson
  55. Education is the kindling of a flame, not the filling of a vessel. – Socrates
  56. Man’s mind, once stretched by a new idea, never regains its original dimensions. – Oliver Wendell Holmes
  57. Even the genius asks questions. – Tupac Shakur
  58. None of us is as smart as all of us. – Ken Blanchard
  59. The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn and relearn. – Alvin Toffler
  60. Develop a passion for learning. If you do, you will never cease to grow. – Anthony J. D’Angelo
  61. Be yourself. Everyone else is already taken. – Oscar Wilde
  62. Courage doesn’t always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying I will try again tomorrow. – Mary Anne Radmacher
  63. There are far better things ahead than any we leave behind. – C.S. Lewis
  64. Be nice to yourself. It’s hard to be happy when someone means to you all the time.  – Christine Arylo
  65. You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself in any direction you choose.  – Dr. Seuss
  66. It is our choices that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities. – Dumbledore
  67. You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think. – Winnie the Pooh
  68. We all must make the choice between what is right, and what is easy. – Dumbledore
  69. Become a possibilitarian. No matter how dark things seem to be or actually are, raise your sights and see possibilities — always see them, for they’re always there. – Norman Vincent Peale
  70.  I’m not telling you it’s going to be easy. I’m telling you it’s going to be worth it. – Art Williams
  71. When something goes wrong in your life, just yell, PLOT TWIST, and move on. – Unknown
  72.  You are allowed to scream. You are allowed to cry. You are allowed to scream. But, you are not allowed to give up. – Unknown
  73. Today is your day. Your mountain is waiting so get on your way. – Dr. Seuss
  74. Your work is to discover your world and then with all your heart give yourself to it.  – Buddha
  75. If plan A didn’t work, the alphabet has 25 more letters. – Unknown
  76. Try not. Do or do not, there is no try. – Yoda
  77. The educated differ from the uneducated as much as the living differs from the dead. – Aristotle
  78. The purpose is to replace an empty mind with an open one. Malcolm Forbes 
  79. Intelligence plus character- this is the goal of true education. – Martin Luther King Jr.
  80. The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn and relearn. – William Shakespeare
  81. Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world. – Albert Einstein
  82. You can never be overdressed or overeducated. – Oscar Wilde
  83. He who opens a school door closes a prison. – Victor Hugo
  84. Education would be much more effective if its purpose was to ensure that by the time they leave school every boy and girl should know how much they do not know, and be imbued with a lifelong desire to know it. – William Haley
  85. I am always ready to learn although I do not always like being taught. – Winston Churchill
  86. 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
  87. You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself in any direction you choose. – Dr. Seuss.
  88. School is a building which has four walls with tomorrow inside. – Lon Watters
  89. You must do the things you think you cannot do. – Eleanor Roosevelt
  90. You can learn something every day if you pay attention. – Ray LeBlond.
  91. Think about every problem and every challenge we face. The solution starts with education. – George H.W. Bush
  92. Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new. – Albert Einstein
  93. Our goal must be decency and respect for every human we encounter. – Oprah Winfrey
  94. Education doesn’t make us smarter. It makes us whole. – Jill Biden
  95. The dream begins, most of the time, with a teacher who believes in you, who tugs and pushes and leads you onto the next plateau, sometimes poking you with a sharp stick called truth. – Dan Rather
  96. Children must be taught how to think, not what to think. – Margaret Mead
  97. Education is the most powerful weapon you can use to change the world. – Nelson Mandela
  98. Nothing prevents boredom like a good book. – Dave Pilkey
  99. It seems like you were in kindergarten only yesterday. You’re much older now, and you’re starting another school year. This year, I wish you all success and happiness!
  100. Welcome, my dear students. You must understand that learning is more than just an in-class exercise; it also necessitates initiative and effort outside of the classroom.

As the start of school approaches, it’s a great time to reflect on some of the best advice from seasoned pros. The quotes about back to school provide us with lots of food for thought and inspiration as we embark on new journeys.

Even though high school or college may seem daunting, it is also full of potential and opportunities to learn and grow. Enjoy your last days of summer, but don’t forget to use these quotes as motivation to get back into the learning mentality!