As the end of the school year approaches, many of us are preparing for summer break. Some of our colleagues, however, are preparing for not just summer break, but retirement. It’s important to celebrate the teachers among us who have given so much of their lives to this profession. With that in mind, we gathered some inspiring retirement quotes for teachers that you can print, send, sign in a card, and more! Thank you for all that you’ve done and continue to do.
Funny retirement quotes to make teachers laugh
I’m not just retiring from the company; I’m also retiring from my stress, my commute, my alarm clock, and my iron. —Hartman Jule
I enjoy waking up and not having to go to work. So I do it three or four times a day. —Gene Perret
The trouble with retirement is that you never get a day off. —Abe Lemons
You have to put off being young until you can retire. —Unknown
Retirement is wonderful. It’s doing nothing without worrying about getting caught at it.
Retirement is the beginning of the time when you can sit back and give advice to others, even though you never followed it in your own life. —Unknown
I enjoy waking up and not having to go to work. So I do it three or four times a day. —Gene Perret
Old teachers never die; they just grade away! —Unknown
What do you call a person who is happy on Monday? Retired! —Unknown
Meaningful retirement quotes to highlight the impact teachers made in the lives of others
People appreciate and never forget that helping hand especially when times are tough. —Catherine Pulsifer
Nothing exalts the soul or gives it a sheer sense of buoyancy and victory so much as being used to change the lives of other people. —E. Stanley Jones
The more I help others to succeed, the more I succeed. —Ray Kroc
A fundamental concern for others in our individual and community lives would go a long way in making the world the better place we so passionately dreamt of. —Nelson Mandela
The purpose of human life is to serve, and to show compassion and the will to help others. —Albert Schweitzer
Service doesn’t have to be big and grandiose to be meaningful and make a difference. —Cheryl Esplin
Help the life of one person and you can help the community. —Steven Sawalich
Do your little bit of good where you are; it’s those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world. —Desmond Tutu
How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world. —Anne Frank
Somewhere along the way, we must learn that there is nothing greater than to do something for others. —Martin Luther King, Jr.
Powerful retirement quotes to remind teachers of their accomplishments
What the teacher is, is more important than what he teaches. —Karl Menninger
Education is what survives when what has been learned is forgotten. —BF Skinner
The teacher who is indeed wise does not bid you to enter the house of his wisdom but rather leads you to the threshold of your mind. —Kahlil Gibran
Teaching kids to count is fine, but teaching them what counts is best. —Bob Talbert
A teacher affects eternity he can never tell where his influence stops. —Henry Brooks Adams
A teacher is one who makes two ideas grow where only one grew before. —Elbert Hubbard
The best teacher lodges an intent not in the mind but in the heart. —Anne Michaels
The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires. —William Arthur Ward
The greatest sign of success for a teacher is to be able to say, ‘The children are now working as if I did not exist.’ —Maria Montessori
Education is for improving the lives of others and for leaving your community and world better than you found it. —Marian Wright
Being a teacher is an essential connection between what is and what can be. —Teresa Thayer Snyder
Teaching is the greatest act of optimism. —Colleen Wilcox
One child, one teacher, one book, and one pen can change the world. —Mala Yousafzai
A well-educated mind will always have more questions than answers. —Helen Keller
The influence of a good teacher can never be erased. —Unknown
The world is changed by your example not by your opinion. —Paulo Coelho
Teaching is the profession that teaches all the other professions. —Unknown
Touching retirement quotes to say goodbye to an amazing colleague
Often when you think you’re at the end of something, you’re at the beginning of something else. —Fred Rogers
Every new beginning comes from some other beginning’s end. —Dan Wilson
Great is the art of beginning, but greater is the art of ending. —Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Goodbyes make you think. They make you realize what you’ve had, what you’ve lost, and what you’ve taken for granted. —Ritu Ghatourey
It’s time to say goodbye, but I think goodbyes are sad and I’d much rather say hello. Hello to a new adventure. —Ernie Harwell
You and I will meet again, When we’re least expecting it, One day in some far off place, I will recognize your face, I won’t say goodbye my friend, For you and I will meet again. —Tom Petty
There is nothing to regret with a job well done. —Joe Garcia
Be well, do good work, and keep in touch. —Garrison Keillor
How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard. —A. A. Milne
Inspirational retirement quotes to get teachers excited for their next big adventure
It’s not the days in life we remember, rather the moments. —Walt Disney
And in the end it’s not the years in your life that count. It’s the life in your years. —Abraham Lincoln
To appreciate beauty; to find the best in others; to leave the world a bit better whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition; to know that even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded. —Ralph Waldo Emerson
Life was meant to be lived, and curiosity must be kept alive. One must never, for whatever reason, turn his back on life. —Eleanor Roosevelt
In all of living, have much fun and laughter. Life is to be enjoyed, not just endured. —Gordon B. Hinckley
You are never too old to set a new goal or dream a new dream. —C.S. Lewis
Do not grow old, no matter how long you live. Never cease to stand like curious children before the great mystery into which we were born. —Albert Einstein
The longer I live, the more beautiful life becomes. —Frank Lloyd Wright
Count your age by friends, not years. —John Lennon
Retire from work, but not from life. —M.K. Soni
I see retirement as just another of these reinventions, another chance to do new things and be a new version of myself. —Walt Mossberg
Looking for even more great teacher quotes! Check out Our All-Time Favorite Teacher Quotes.
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