-
You’re not God. Nothing is your fault, except, perhaps, poor teaching.
Bel Kaufman -
To meet this expense, he sold his violin. Besides, Charlotte did not care for music.
Bel Kaufman
-
Like a child, too, he was warm, unaffected, and selfish. He had the combination, irresistible to women, of ruthlessness and tenderness.
Bel Kaufman -
Your fingers smell of incense—a lover sings to the corpse of his dead sweetheart.
Bel Kaufman -
I like the word OLD. Not senior, that's for proms. Older? Older than whom? 'Old' is honorable and ripe...
Bel Kaufman -
I have this colored friend Betty well, I never thought about it one way or the other until one day I went over her house for the first time and her father opened the door and I was surprized to see he was colored. Because, to me I was so used to her she always looked normal.
Bel Kaufman -
This is from Payroll Division: I wasn’t even teaching in June, and I certainly don’t have $2.75. Apparently they don’t know I’m file # 443-817 and have got me confused with another–possibly.
Bel Kaufman -
Almost through force of habit, she found her lips saying the words she had so often said before: “Let’s not spoil it . . . You will write to me, my dear, my dear . . .” His face was impassive. “I never write,” he said.
Bel Kaufman
-
Appreciation is appreciated.
Bel Kaufman -
TO: ALL TEACHERS FROM: JAMES J. MCHABE, ADM. ASST. PLEASE PLOT AND HAND IN THE MEDIAN PERCENTILE CURVE BASED ON THE MIDTERM MARKS IN EACH OF YOUR CLASSES. IF A CLASS CURVE FALLS BELOW THE PERCENTILE OF FAILURES ALLOTTED TO IT, THE EFFICACY OF THE TEACHER MUST BE QUESTIONED. TEACHERS WITH THE HIGHEST NUMBER OF PASSING STUDENTS ARE TO BE COMMENDED.
Bel Kaufman -
She tucked a vial of perfume into her purse, to apply when she was outside the apartment.
Bel Kaufman -
In August they had a bad fright. Her lawyer had suggested that—in view of the circumstances—they drop the divorce. This filled them both with profound dread; at the thought of staying married, of sinking back into the deadly boredom of their pre-divorce days, they felt nothing but horror. They realized more than ever that marriage for them was unthinkable.
Bel Kaufman -
Is Rrawssian saying: ‘Better small fish than big cockroach.’ Some hawsband drrunk, some hawsband play all time cards, some hawsband fleert with woman. . . . Rrogov make only with brread.
Bel Kaufman -
That night they stayed up until eleven-thirty, an unusually late hour for them, going over some of the practical aspects of the divorce. When they discovered they were hungry, they continued in the kitchen, over an unaccustomed snack.
Bel Kaufman
-
I am writing this during my free . . . oops! un-assigned period, at the end of my first day of teaching. So far, I have taught nothing — but I have learned a great deal. To wit: We have to punch a time clock and abide by the Rules. We must make sure our students likewise abide, and that they sign the time sheet whenever they leave or reenter a room. We have keys but no locks (except in lavatories), blackboards but no chalk, students but no seats, teachers but no time to teach. The library is closed to the students.
Bel Kaufman -
Never mind the cream; it will always rise to the top. It's the skim milk that needs good teachers.
Bel Kaufman -
The books we are required to teach frequently have nothing to do with anything except the fact that they have always been taught, or that there is an oversupply of them, or that some committee or other was asked to come up with some titles.
Bel Kaufman -
And that's it; that's why I want to teach; that's the one and only compensation: to make a permanent difference in the life of a child.
Bel Kaufman