70 Best Teacher Retirement Quotes And Wishes

Srija Chanda
Dec 12, 2023 By Srija Chanda
Originally Published on Feb 09, 2021
Edited by Isobel Murphy
Asian senior male calculus professor writing.

When your teacher is finally going to retire from his or her job of imparting education, you may want to share some of the best retirement quotes and wishes with your teachers to make them feel strong!

Teachers have been part of our lives for as long as we can remember and without them, we would be lost! They guide us on our way to success and help us write our futures as brightly as possible.

A teacher helps us enjoy life with a proper education. They provide us instructions in literacy and other aspects of education like arts, civics, life skills, even community roles. A teacher's role doesn't end in the classroom and saying goodbye to them after several years can be hard.

A good teacher will always have your back. These people are never in this profession just for the money, it is more than just a job! They are people who want to help shape society, so working with teachers to help create a good environment is the responsibility of every student!

But it is true that every one of us has to retire at a certain time in life from our work place, and it can be one of the hard things to do after so many years of hard work that we like and enjoy.

To retire from teaching after connecting with students for such a long time and building their characters over many years is never ever going to be easy at any time.

But the thing is, you can make a retired teacher feel better with funny teacher retirement quotes and even a few teacher retirement poems, if you can make them. The wisdom they have bestowed upon you over the years can be redistributed in a wonderful way to be remembered forever with these quotes.

Saying goodbye to their work and old way of life, will never be too sad when they have the greatest messages from one of their pupils to celebrate with!

With all that said, let's take a look at some of the best teaching retirement quotes! For more related content, take a look at these funny teacher quotes and [preschool teacher quotes].

Teacher Retirement Wishes

Here are some wishes to show your appreciation for the greatest teachers. You can put these ideas into your Teacher Day greeting card too.

1. "... Forget the iPad, your words have been the greatest learning tool we could've ever had. Farewell, to our favorite teacher."

—Unknown*.

2. "Cheers and tears, high fives and cries – this is the crazy roller coaster ride of emotions that we're going through, will bid farewell to an awesome teacher like you. Goodbye."

—Unknown*.

3. "The vacancy you'll leave behind may be filled. But in our hearts, you're simply irreplaceable."

—Unknown*.

4. "You encouraged me with your words full of hope and support."

—Unknown*.

5. "I thank destiny for sending such an awesome teacher my way. Farewell."

—Unknown*.

Good Quotes On Teaching

Looking for some great quotes to write to your teachers on their retirement? Scroll down and take a look at these ideas.

6. "Those who educate children well are more to be honored than they who produce them; for these only gave them life, those the art of living well."

- Aristotle.

7. "Those who know, do. Those that understand, teach."

- Aristotle.

8. "To teach you need books, to educate you need heart."

- Vikrmn.

9. "[Kids] don't remember what you try to teach them. They remember what you are."

- Jim Henson.

10. "The best nation is created by the best teachers, not by the best fathers"

- Dr. P.S. Jagadeesh Kumar.

11. "I never teach my pupils, I only attempt to provide the conditions in which they can learn."

- Albert Einstein.

12. "I am indebted to my father for living, but to my teacher for living well."

- Alexander The Great.

13. "A teacher who loves learning earns the right and the ability to help others learn."

- Ruth Beechick.

14. "All students may not remember the teachings of their teachers, but they all remember the teachers."

- Amit Kalantri.

15. "True teachers are those who use themselves as bridges over which they invite their students to cross."

- Nikos Kazantzakis.

16. "Teacher is the main reflector on student's future ."

- Kamaran Ihsan Salih.

17. "A great teacher plants the seeds of greatness in the minds of future generations."

- Debasish Mridha.

18. "What is a teacher? I'll tell you: it isn't someone who teaches something, but someone who inspires the student to give of her best in order to discover what she already knows."

- Paulo Coelho.

19. "Educators are instrumental mentors molding the elite leaders of tomorrow."

- Wayne Chirisa.

20. "When you study great teachers... you will learn much more from their caring and hard work than from their style."

- William Glasser.

21. "In learning, you will teach, and in teaching, you will learn."

- Phil Collins.

22. "Great teachers are great tour guides - they show us the sights, the sounds, the beauty, the pain, and the ones who made a difference."

- Bert McCoy.

23. "As a teacher, we have the thing of not speaking in the negative. So instead of saying to a child: 'Stop talking', you'd say: 'I need you to sit quietly.'"

- Humble The Poet.

24. "One repays a teacher badly if one always remains nothing but a pupil."

― Friedrich Nietzsche.

25. "They inspire you, they entertain you, and you end up learning a ton even when you don't know it."

- Nicholas Sparks.

Quotes From Famous Teachers

Here is a list and inspiring quotes from famous teachers.

26. "The best brains of the nation may be found on the last benches of the classroom."

- Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam.

27. Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome.

- Booker T. Washington.

28. "Journey of thousand miles starts with first step. And your first step must be in the right direction."

- Lao Tzu.

29. "I don't believe I can really do without teaching."

- Dr. Richard P. Feynman.

30. "I will make you love physics and your life will never be the same."

- Professor Walter Lewin.

31. "For students of every ability and background, it is the simply miraculous act of reading a good book that turns them into readers."

- Nancie Atwell.

Retirement Quotes For Teachers

Best inspirational retirement quotes for the hard-working teacher that you are going to miss!

32. "Someone once said, There are two good reasons to be a teacher — July and August. In fact, there are three good reasons to be a teacher. The third reason is retirement."

—Unknown*.

33. "Retirement itself is the best gift. No gold watch could ever top it."

—Abigail Charleson.

34. "Retirement, a time to do what you want to do, when you want to do it, where you want to do it, and, how you want to do it."

—Catherine Pulsifer.

35. "Retirement: That's when you return from work one day and say, 'Hi, Honey, I'm home, forever'."

—Gene Perret.

36. "The curriculum is so much necessary raw material, but warmth is the vital element for the growing plant and for the soul of the child."

—Carl Jung.

37. "Age is only a number, a cipher for the records. A man can't retire his experience. He must use it."

—Bernard Baruch.

38. "The world of knowledge takes a crazy turn when teachers themselves are taught to learn."

—Bertolt Brecht.

39. "I like a teacher who gives you something to take home to think about besides homework."

—Lily Tomlin

40. "The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires."

—William Arthur Ward.

41. "The object of teaching a child is to enable him to get along without a teacher."

—Elbert Hubbard.

42. "Here is an essential principle of education: to teach details is to bring confusion; to establish the relationship between things is to bring knowledge."

—Maria Montessori.

43. "To prepare and arrange a series of motives for cultural activity in a special environment made for the child."

Maria Montessori, 'The Absorbent Mind', 1949.

44. "The best teacher lodges an intent not in the mind but in the heart."

—Anne Michaels.

45. "Retirement: It's nice to get out of the rat race, but you have to learn to get along with less cheese."

—Gene Perret.

46. "Retirement is wonderful. It's doing nothing without worrying about getting caught at it."

—Gene Perret.

47. "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.

48. "The trouble with retirement is that you never get a day off."

—Abe Lemons.

49. "The test of a good teacher is not how many questions he can ask his pupils that they will answer readily, but how many questions he inspires them to ask him which he finds it hard to answer."

—Alice Rollins.

50. "The teacher's life should have three periods, study until twenty-five, investigation until forty, profession until sixty, at which age I would have him retired on a double allowance."

—William Osler.

51. "A good teacher is like a candle - it consumes itself to light the path for others."

—Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.

52. "A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops."

—Henry Adams.

53. "A master can tell you what he expects of you. A teacher though awakens your own expectations."

—Patricia Neal.

54. "Some call it retirement. I call it bliss."

—Betty Sullivan.

55. "Words can shape reality, and it's time for this retirement to go. Doesn't 'renaissance' or 'graduation' or 'transition' better describe your post-career life?"

—Marika Stone.

56. "Retirement is a blank sheet of paper. It is a chance to redesign your life into something new and different."

—Patrick Foley.

57. "For retirement brings repose, and repose allows a kindly judgment of all things."

—John Sharp Williams.

58. "I'm not a teacher: only a fellow-traveler of whom you asked the way. I pointed ahead- ahead of myself as well as you."

—George Bernard Shaw.

59. "Great teachers empathize with kids, respect them, and believe that each one has something special that can be built upon."

—Ann Liberman.

60. "There are three things to remember when teaching: know your stuff; know whom you are stuffing, and then stuff them elegantly."

—Lola May.

More Teacher Retirement Quotes

Awesome quotes to pass on the goodbye message of retirement at the end of a wonderful career.

61. "Successful teachers are effective in spite of the psychological theories they suffer under."

—Unknown*.

62. "What the teacher is, is more important than what he teaches."

― Karl Menninger.

63. "So long as we learn it doesn't matter who teaches us, does it?"

- E. R. Braithwaite.

64. "A professor is one who talks in someone else's sleep."

—W.H. Auden.

65. "Retirement: The pay sucks but the hours are great."

—Unknown*.

66. "There's one thing I always wanted to do before I quit… retire!"

—Groucho Marx.

67. "The great teachers fill you up with hope and shower you with a thousand reasons to embrace all aspects of life."

- Pat Conroy.

68. "The true teacher defends his pupils against his own personal influence."

- Amos Bronson Alcott.

69. "Retirement is life's greatest tease. You have more free time than a 13-year-old but your energy levels are worse than a fifty-year-old."

—Unknown*.

70. "Real teaching is about nurturing."

- Bert McCoy.

At Kidadl, we have created lots of interesting family-friendly quotes for everyone to enjoy! If you liked our ideas for teacher retirement quotes, why not take a look at end of school year quotes, or [funny quotes about school] for more?

* Do you know where this quote originated from? Please email to let us know at hello@kidadl.com

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Written by Srija Chanda

Master of Arts specializing in Mass Communication/Media Studies

Srija Chanda picture

Srija ChandaMaster of Arts specializing in Mass Communication/Media Studies

An aspiring media professional, Srija is currently pursuing her Master's degree in Mass Communication at St. Xavier's University, Kolkata, after completing her degree in journalism. With experience in PR and social media, she has also honed her leadership skills through her participation in a youth parliament. Srija's interests include devouring books, watching movies, and exploring new places through travel.

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