Quote

I thought I was going to school to be other people, but really, what I learned was to be myself - accepting myself, my strengths and weaknesses.

I always thought I would be a teacher. And I think I actually lived up to my initial dreams, because what I do now is teach millions and millions of people many different kinds of things.

I spent the 1960s and 1970s seeking myself - the working-class tradition of self-education.

I wanted to acquire an education, work extremely hard and never deviate from my goal, to make it.

To be a teacher you have to have a very giving, selfless personality. I don't think I'm that selfless and giving.

I didn't do so well in the academic world, so I think the only way I could express myself was through visual art - anything I could get my hands on, whether it was glassblowing, sculpture, painting, or photography. I always wanted to be a painter. Or a farmer.

I've always been really ambitious, whatever I do. At school, I always wanted to be the best in the class - no, it wasn't enough to be the best in the class, I'd want to be the best in the country.

I wanted to be a teacher.

I wanted to become a kindergarten teacher like my mother.

I became a teacher all right. I wanted to become a teacher because I had a misconception about it. I didn't know that I'd be going into - when I first became a high school teacher in New York, that I'd be going into a battle zone, and no one prepared me for that.