Back To School Quotes and Captions

These back-to-school quotes reinforce the importance of education and pay tribute to that time of year when students and teachers are usually a little anxious.

From Abraham Lincoln to Bill Watterson, this collection includes funny, famous, and inspirational quotes on school, education, and that back-to-school time period.

Below the listed quotes, check out our fun back-to-school captions. Enjoy.

Ten Best Back To School Quotes

1.) Let us remember: One book, one pen, one child, and one teacher can change the world.
Malala Yousafzai

2.) There’s more treasure in books than in all the pirates’ loot on Treasure Island.
Walt Disney

3.) School is a building which has four walls with tomorrow inside.
Lon Watters

4.) Educating the mind without educating the heart is no education at all.
Aristotle

5.) Education is not the filling of a pail but the lighting of a fire.
William Butler Yeats

6.) Education can get you the only thing that really matters in today’s world—an assigned parking space.
Gene Perret

7.) We all learn by experience, but some of us have to go to summer school.
Peter De Vries

8.) If you think your teachers are tough, wait ‘til you get a boss.
Bill Gates

9.) 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

10.) What we learn with pleasure, we never forget.
Alfred Mercier

Memorable Back To School Quotes

11.) Education is simply the soul of a society as it passes from one generation to another.
Gilbert K. Chesterton

12.) 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

13.) Education doesn’t make us smarter. It makes us whole.
Jill Biden

14.) If you are not willing to learn, no one can help you. If you are determined to learn, no one can stop you.
Zig Ziglar

15.) Knowledge is power. Information is liberating. Education is the premise of progress, in every society, in every family.
Kofi Annan

16.) All children start their school careers with sparkling imaginations, fertile minds, and a willingness to take risks with what they think.
Ken Robinson

See Education Quotes to Inspire.

Good Back To School Quotations

17.) The philosophy of the schoolroom in one generation will be the philosophy of government in the next.
Abraham Lincoln

18.) Education breeds confidence. Confidence breeds hope. Hope breeds peace.
Confucius

19.) You educate a man; you educate a man. (When) You educate a woman; you educate a generation.
Brigham Young

I had the feeling that to get into a schoolhouse and study would be about the same as getting into paradise.
Booker T. Washington

20.) The capacity to learn is a gift; the ability to learn is a skill; the willingness to learn is a choice.
Brian Herbert

21.) A new school year means new beginnings, new adventures, new friendships, and new challenges. The slate is clean, and anything can happen.
Denise Witmer

22.) Technology is just a tool. In terms of getting the kids to work together and motivating them, the teacher is the most important.
Bill Gates

23.) It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.
Aristotle

Learning Insights

24.) Do not wait until the conditions are perfect to begin. Beginning makes the conditions perfect.
Alan Cohen

25.) When educating the minds of our youth, we must not forget to educate their hearts.
Dalai Lama

26.) For there is always light. If only we’re brave enough to see it. If only we’re brave enough to be it.
Amanda Gorman

See Astrology Quotes and Captions.

Funny Back To School Quotes

27.) Respect your parents. They passed school without Google.
Unknown

28.) You can drag my body to school, but my spirit refuses to go.
Bill Watterson

29.) I’ll just say it: I’m not the sharpest tool in the box. Being forced to go back to school is still a fear of mine.
Will Poulter

30.) I would enjoy school more if I were allowed to bring a pillow.
Unknown

31.) In school, they told me, ‘Practice makes perfect.’ And then they told me, ‘Nobody’s perfect,’ so then I stopped practicing.
Steven Wright

32.) On the first day of school, make sure that you know your locker combination.
Jordan Francis

33.) A teacher’s job is to take a bunch of live wires and see that they are well-grounded.
Darwin D. Martin

34.) There is nothing on earth intended for innocent people so horrible as a school.
George Bernard Shaw

Funny Back To School Videos from TikTok

Amusing Back To School Sayings

35.) 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

36.) What I remember most about high school are the memories I created with my friends.
J. J. Watt

37.) School bells are ringing loud and clear; vacation’s over, school is here.
Winifred C. Marshall

38.) I said school starts tomorrow. I didn’t say I was going to be there.
Kim Harrison

Short Back To School Quotes

39.) I like learning new skills and the feeling of going back to school.
Edith Bowman

40.) The roots of education are bitter, but the fruit is sweet.
Aristotle

41.) He who opens a school door closes a prison.
Victor Hugo

42.) You learn something every day if you pay attention.
Ray LeBlond

43.) A sense of curiosity is nature’s original school of education.
Smiley Blanton

44.) You can never be overdressed or overeducated.
Oscar Wilde – See 173 Best Oscar Wilde Quotes.

45.) It is never too late to be what you might have been.
George Eliot

46.) Change is the end result of all true learning.
Leo Buscaglia

47.) Be so good they can’t ignore you.
Steve Martin

48.) Every class is drama class when you’re in high school.
Timothy Bird.

49.) A person who won’t read has no advantage over one who can’t read.
Mark Twain

50.) What we learn becomes a part of who we are.
Kathy R. Jeffords

51.) Education is the key to opportunity.
Gordon B. Hinckley

52.) Excellence is not a skill. It is an attitude.
Ralph Marston

53.) Teachers open the door, but you must enter by yourself.
Chinese Proverb

54.) We don’t stop going to school when we graduate.
Carol Burnett

55.) School is the easiest job you’ll ever have.
Marty Klezmer

56.) The future of the world is in my classroom today.
Ivan Welton Fitzwater

57.) An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.
Benjamin Franklin

Interesting School Quotes

58.) Intelligence plus character — that is the true goal of education.
Martin Luther King Jr.

59.) Develop a passion for learning. If you do, you will never cease to grow.
Anthony J. D’Angelo

60.) There are only two places in the world where time takes precedence over the job to be done: school and prison.
William Glasser.

61.) Asking your children about their fears or worries about going back to school will help them share their burdens.
Chuck Norris

62.) Nothing is impossible; the word itself says, ‘I’m possible.’
Audrey Hepburn

63.) A man who has never gone to school may steal from a freight car, but if he has a university education, he may steal the whole railroad.
Theodore Roosevelt

64.) If you want to know what society’s going to be like in 20 years, ask a kindergarten teacher.
Clifford Stoll

Notable Back To School Quotes

65.) You’re off to great places! Today is your day! Your mountain is waiting, so get on your way!
Dr. Suess

66.) High school is all about finding who you are because that’s more important than trying to be someone else.
Nick Jonas

67.) The job of an educator is to teach students to see the vitality in themselves.
Joseph Campbell

68.) The beautiful thing about learning is that no one can take it away from you.
B.B King

69.) You can teach a student a lesson for a day, but if you can teach him to learn by creating curiosity, he will continue the learning process as long as he lives.
Clay P. Bedford

70.) The whole purpose of education is to turn mirrors into windows.
Sydney J. Harris

Inspirational Quotes for Students

71.) Work hard, be kind, and amazing things will happen.
Conan O’Brien

72.) Education is not preparation for life; education is life itself.
John Dewey

73.) Success is no accident. It is hard work, perseverance, learning, studying, sacrifice, and most of all, love of what you are doing or learning to do.
Pele

74.) Don’t be afraid to start over. It’s a new chance to rebuild what you want.
Unknown

75.) Sometimes, you have to do what you don’t love so that you can do what you love.
Unknown

76.) This is a new year—a new beginning. And things will change.
Taylor Swift – See 115 Inspiring Taylor Swift Insights.

77.) I know I can be what I wanna be. If I work hard at it, I’ll be where I wanna be.
Nas

78.) When we empower girls hungry for education, we cultivate women who are emboldened to effect change within their communities and globally.
Meghan Markle

79.) Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known.
Carl Sagan

Inspiring Insights

80.) You have to stay in school. You have to. (And) you have to go to college. You have to get your degree. Because that’s the one thing people can’t take away from is your education. And it’s worth the investment.
Michelle Obama

81.) A good education is a foundation for a better future.
Elizabeth Warren

82.) The beginning is the most important part of the work.
Plato

83.) The most important day of a person’s education is the first day of school, not Graduation Day.
Harry Wong

84.) What is the most important thing one learns in school? Self-esteem, support, and friendship.
Terry Williams

Motivational Back To School Quotes

85.) Education is the key to unlocking the world, a passport to freedom.
Oprah Winfrey

86.) Education is the passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to those who prepare for it today.
Malcolm X

87.) Education is the difference between wishing you could help other people and being able to help them.
Russell M. Nelson

88.) 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

89.) I’m not telling you it’s going to be easy—I’m telling you it’s going to be worth it.
Art Williams

90.) You must do the things you think you cannot do.
Eleanor Roosevelt

91.) The difference between try and triumph is a little umph.
Marvin Phillips

92.) You don’t have to be great to get started, but you have to get started to be great.
Les Brown

Motivating Sayings About Education

93.) We all must make the choice between what is right and what is easy.
Dumbledore

94.) If you put your mind to it, you can accomplish anything.
Marty Mcfly

95.) Struggling is a part of learning. If it’s simple or simply done, you’re probably not learning anything.
Unknown

96.) You are allowed to scream. You are allowed to cry. But you are not allowed to give up.
Unknown

97.) You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.
Winnie the Pooh

98.) I came to understand the value of education, not just to enable me to make a good living but to enable me to make a worthwhile life.
Ruth Simmons

99.) Better than a thousand days of diligent study is one day with a great teacher.
Japanese Proverb

100.) Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day in and day out.
Robert Collier

Famous Back To School Quotes

101.) Education is not the learning of many facts but the training of the mind to think.
Albert Einstein

102.) I gave myself a year to be a supermodel. And I said, ‘If it doesn’t happen, I’m going back to school.’
Tyra Banks

103.) I would really like to go back to school. I would love it now.
Fiona Apple

104.) The aim of education should be to teach us rather how to think than what to think—rather to improve our minds so as to enable us to think for ourselves rather than to load the memory with thoughts of other people.
Bill Beattie

105.) Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.
Nelson Mandela

106.) You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. (And) You can steer yourself in any direction you choose.
Dr.Seuss

107.) The paradox of education is precisely this – that as one begins to become conscious, one begins to examine the society in which he is being educated.
James Baldwin

108.) Time to rise. Time for school! Open your eyes.
Tammie Jones

109.) I believe that education is all about being excited about something. Seeing passion and enthusiasm helps push an educational message.
Steve Irwin

110.) It’s one of my favorite seasons of the year: Back to School. As a kid, I loved fresh school supplies, new outfits, the change of seasons, and the chance to crack open a new textbook.
Dana Perino

Notable Learning Quotations

111.) It’s good to learn. Nobody can ever take that away from you.
Estelle Okeon

112.) Everything is a learning process: any time you fall over, it’s just teaching you to stand up the next time.
Joel Edgerton

113.) I’ve got a theory that if you give 100 percent all the time, somehow, things will work out in the end.
Larry Bird

First Day of School Quotes

114.) One child, one teacher, one pen, and one book can change the world.
Malala Yousufzai

115.) You don’t learn to walk by following rules. You learn by doing and by falling over.
Richard Branson

116.) Be silly. Be honest. (And) Be kind.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

117.) It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men.
Frederick Douglass

118.) Education is the key to unlocking the world, a passport to freedom.
Oprah Winfrey

119.) Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.
Thomas Edison

120.) Learn as much as you can while you are young since life becomes too busy later.
Dana Stewart Scott

121.) First day of school! Wake up! Come on. First day of school.
Nemo From Finding Nemo

122.) The first day of school is always like a fashion show. The rest of the year a pajama party.
Unknown 

Education Quotations

123.) The great aim of education is not knowledge but action.
Herbert Spencer

124.) Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.
Mahatma Gandhi

125.) Education is learning what you didn’t even know you didn’t know.
Daniel J. Boorstin

126.) Learning is not attained by chance; it must be sought for with ardor and diligence.
Abigail Adams

127.) You are always a student, never a master. You have to keep moving forward.
Conrad Hall

128.) When you educate one person, you can change a life. When you educate many, you can change the world.
Shai Reshef

129.) Education is a better safeguard of liberty than a standing army.
Edward Everett

130.) Education is the movement from darkness to light.
Allan Bloom

131.) The object of education is to prepare the young to educate themselves throughout their lives.
Robert M. Hutchins

132.) Education is the ability to listen to almost anything without losing your temper or your self-confidence.
Robert Frost

133.) Education is the best friend. An educated person is respected everywhere. Education beats the beauty and the youth.
Chanakya

134.) The goal of education is the advancement of knowledge and the dissemination of truth.
John F. Kennedy

135.) Education’s purpose is to replace an empty mind with an open one.
Malcolm Forbes

Learning Quotes

136.) With every book, you go back to school. You become a student. You become an investigative reporter. (And) you spend a little time learning what it’s like to live in someone else’s shoes.
John Irving

137.) Education is the key to success in life, and teachers make a lasting impact in the lives of their students.
Solomon Ortiz

138.) A well-educated mind will always have more questions than answers.
Helen Keller

139.) Learn as much as you can while you are young since life becomes too busy later.
Dana Stewart Scott

140.) I like a teacher who gives you something to take home to think about besides homework.
Lily Tomlin

141.) Education is a progressive discovery of our own ignorance.
Will Durant

142.) Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.
Arthur Ashe

143.) Education is not just about going to school and getting a degree. It’s about widening your knowledge and absorbing the truth about life.
Shakuntala Devi

144.) Good teaching is more a giving of right questions than a giving of right answers.
Josef Albers

145.) What makes a child gifted and talented may not always be good grades in school but a different way of looking at the world and learning.
Chuck Grassley

Words of Wisdom

146.) I’m not going to school just for academics. I wanted to share the ideas and to be around people who are passionate about learning.
Emma Watson

147.) On the first day of school, you got to be really careful where you sit. You walk into the classroom and just plunk your stuff down on any old desk, and the next thing you know, the teacher is saying, ‘I hope you all like where you’re sitting because these are your permanent seats.’
Jeff Kinney

148.) You can’t do it alone. Be open to collaboration. Find a group of people who challenge and inspire you. Spend a lot of time with them, and it will change your life.
Amy Poehler

149.) One day middle school will end and become high school and after that it just becomes life. All those things you think are important now won’t be anymore.
Diary of a Wimpy Kid

150.) High school is what kind of grows you into the person you are. I have great memories, good and bad, some learning experiences and some that I’ll take with me for the rest of my life.
Giancarlo Stanton

151.) Although no one can go back and make a brand new start, anyone can start from now and make a brand new ending.
Carl Bard

152.) Work hard, nap hard.
Demi Lovato

153.) No school without spectacular eccentrics and crazy hearts is worth attending.
Saul Bellow

154.) The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.
Eleanor Roosevelt

Back To School Captions

155.) 2 Cool 4 School

156.) Teacher? I prefer the term “Educational Rockstar!”

157.) Pain is temporary. GPA is forever!

158.) Be kind and make friends!

159.) Don’t look back; you’re not going that way.

160.) Make yourself proud.

161.) Nothing good comes from the comfort zone.

162.) “Don’t lick the desk!” (Just another Monday.)

163.) It’s not that I hate school. I just hate waking up early in the morning!

164.) Now when you get there, act like somebody!

165.) Make today so brilliant that yesterday gets jealous.

166.) Be educated, be cool.

167.) You are capable of anything!

168.) Don’t be afraid to ask questions.

169.) Feeling those school vibes!

Instagram Captions on Back To School

170.) Teach from the heart, not from the book.

171.) Oh, college, where Monday could feel like a Friday.

172.) I teach Wild Things.

173.) Get up with determination. Go to bed with satisfaction.

174.) You can!

175.) Teachers gonna teach!

176.) Maybe Monday doesn’t like you either!

177.) Teacher of All Things.

178.) Teaching is the greatest act of optimism. (Colleen Wilcox)

179.) When nothing goes right, go left.

180.) School’s out for summer!

181.) Roses are red; school is long!

182.) Get up with determination!

183.) Can’t keep calm; it’s my first day of school.

184.) When someone says you can’t do it, do it twice and take pictures.

185.) Don’t stop until you’re proud!

186.) I love you, school. Now please love me back!

187.) Thank you, next semester!

188.) To-do list: stay awake!

189.) Study hard, do good, and a good life will follow.

Comedians’ Take on Education Quotes

190.) You know there is a problem with the education system when you realize that out of the three Rs, only one begins with an R.
Dennis Miller

191.) In elementary school, in case of fire, you have to line up quietly in a single-file line from smallest to tallest. What is the logic? Do tall people burn slower?
Warren Hutcherson

192.) School has always been scary for me. The very first day of school, my parents dropped me off at the wrong nursery. I didn’t know anyone, and there were lots of trees.
Brian Kiley

193.) I was homeschooled. The cat never stood a chance against me in dodgeball.
Eric Roth

194.) As long as there is algebra, there will be prayer in school.
Larry Miller

Hilarious Insights

195.) Intelligence tests are biased toward the literate.
George Carlin

196.) You know to tell if the teacher is hung over? Movie Day.
Jay Mohr

197.) I won’t say ours was a tough school, but we had our own coroner. We used to write essays like “What I’m Going to Be If I Group Up.”
Lenny Bruce

198.) Schools: I got an F one time on a question that asked my opinion.
Gallagher

199.) I was a substitute teacher for a couple of years, and it’s a tough job. And apparently not cool to say, “You guys work on your math problems. If you have any questions, wake me up.”
Adam Gropman

200.) My kid drives me nuts. For three years now, he goes to a private school; he won’t tell me where it is.
Rodney Dangerfield

Back To School Quotes FAQs

Here are some frequently asked questions about back-to-school quotes.

By Mike O’Halloran

Mike is the founder and editor of Greeting Card Poet.

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