1. "Mathematics is not about numbers, equations, computations, or algorithms: it is about understanding." - William Paul Thurston. A great math teacher doesn't just teach the mechanics but helps students grasp the underlying concepts.
2. "Pure mathematics is, in its way, the poetry of logical ideas." - Albert Einstein. A math teacher's job is to unlock the beauty of these logical ideas for their students.
3. "The essence of mathematics is not to make simple things complicated, but to make complicated things simple." - S. Gudder. A skilled math teacher can break down complex theories into understandable chunks.
4. "In mathematics, you don't understand things. You just get used to them." - Johann von Neumann. A good math teacher knows that sometimes, students need time to acclimatize to new concepts.
5. "Mathematics is the most beautiful and most powerful creation of the human spirit." - Stefan Banach. A math teacher has the privilege of introducing students to this amazing creation.
6. "There is no royal road to geometry." - Euclid. Math teachers remind students that learning math requires effort and perseverance.
7. "The only way to learn mathematics is to do mathematics." - Paul Halmos. Math teachers encourage students to roll up their sleeves and solve problems.
8. "Mathematics is like checkers in being suitable for the young, not too difficult, amusing, and without peril to the state." - Plato. Math teachers make learning math engaging for young minds.
9. "Mathematics is the language in which God has written the universe." - Galileo Galilei. A math teacher shows students how math is the key to understanding the world around us.
10. "If people do not believe that mathematics is simple, it is only because they do not realize how complicated life is." - John von Neumann. Math teachers help simplify the complex through the lens of math.
11. "The study of mathematics, like the Nile, begins in minuteness but ends in magnificence." - Charles Caleb Colton. Math teachers guide students on this journey from small concepts to grand theories.
12. "Mathematics is not a careful march down a well - cleared highway, but a journey into a strange wilderness, where the explorers often get lost. Rigor should be a signal to the historian that the maps have been made, and the real explorers have gone elsewhere." - W. S. Anglin. Math teachers inspire students to be brave explorers in the world of math.
13. "There are two ways to do great mathematics. The first is to be smarter than everybody else. The second way is to be stupider than everybody else - but persistent." - Raoul Bott. Math teachers instill the value of perseverance in their students.
14. "Mathematics is the science which uses easy words for hard ideas." - Edward Kasner and James Newman. Math teachers translate these hard ideas into accessible lessons for students.
15. "The highest form of pure thought is in mathematics." - Plato. Math teachers aim to elevate students' thinking through the study of math.
16. "As far as the laws of mathematics refer to reality, they are not certain; and as far as they are certain, they do not refer to reality." - Albert Einstein. Math teachers encourage students to think about the relationship between math and the real world.
17. "A mathematician, like a painter or a poet, is a maker of patterns. If his patterns are more permanent than theirs, it is because they are made with ideas." - G. H. Hardy. Math teachers teach students to create and recognize patterns in math.
18. "Mathematics, rightly viewed, possesses not only truth, but supreme beauty." - Bertrand Russell. Math teachers open the door to this supreme beauty for their students.
19. "The mathematician's patterns, like the painter's or the poet's, must be beautiful; the ideas, like the colors or the words, must fit together in a harmonious way. Beauty is the first test: there is no permanent place in the world for ugly mathematics." - G. H. Hardy. Math teachers help students understand the aesthetic side of math.
20. "In mathematics, the art of proposing a question must be held of higher value than solving it." - Georg Cantor. Math teachers foster students' curiosity and their ability to ask meaningful questions in math.