The Unteachables Quotes

“Justice and fairness aren't just part of the social studies curriculum, you know. They're the building blocks of our entire society.”
― Gordon Korman, The Unteachables

“Just because you’ve got anger management problems doesn’t mean there isn’t plenty to be ticked off about.”
― Gordon Korman, The Unteachables

“Let me tell you about spirit.” The teacher comes alive, making eye contact with each of us as he speaks. “No one can command you to have spirit—not principals, governors, presidents, or even kings. There’s no spirit switch in your brain that can be flipped on or off. Spirit isn’t a week you can put on your calendar. It doesn’t come from posters, or streamers, or rallies, or funny hat days. And it definitely doesn’t come from making an ungodly racket with a cheap plastic instrument of torture that was invented purely for disturbing the peace!”
― Gordon Korman, The Unteachables

“Why don’t you share how you hurt your leg? I’m guessing it was a football injury.” “No way,” Barnstorm scoffs. “The tackler isn’t born who can catch me. I was changing a lightbulb in the bathroom and I slipped off the toilet seat.”
― Gordon Korman, The Unteachables

“I’m allowed to drive for the family business,” he explains.

“Which is what—a funeral parlor? You almost killed me.”
― Gordon Korman, The Unteachables

“I’m not retiring,” I tell her. “Sign me up for next year.”
― Gordon Korman, The Unteachables

“There are smart phones and dumb phones. His is a rock.”
― Gordon Korman, The Unteachables

“D? Ribbit never gave tests before, and now he’s throwing Ds around?”

Barnstorm laughs in his face. “It isn’t Ribbit’s fault you’re stupid.” He examines his own paper. The word INCOMPLETE is written across the top. “What?!” he complains.

“At least I got a grade,” Aldo tells him.

“I miss the old Ribbit,” Barnstorm complains.

“Yeah,” Aldo agrees. “This is way too much like education.”
― Gordon Korman, The Unteachables

“The calendar appears in my mind, that magical date in June circled in gold Sharpie. Only 172 more school days to go.”
― Gordon Korman, The Unteachables

“bucket-filler is someone loving and caring,”
― Gordon Korman, The Unteachables

“actually saw myself finishing out the year in this class I don’t belong in, in this school I don’t really go to. And in this town where my only connection is the fact that my parents grew up here.”
― Gordon Korman, The Unteachables

“Plus, Barnstorm is complaining about his mobility with only one crutch.

“Then you shouldn’t have busted the other one over Elaine’s head,” Aldo tells him.

“It was her back, not her head,” Barnstorm retorts. “I saved her life, man. She’d better remember that while deciding who her next victim’s going to be.”
― Gordon Korman, The Unteachables

“His face is redder than his hair, and streaked with tears. “Old Dan and Little Ann!” he gasps, waving Where the Red Fern Grows in front of him. “They’re dead! Both of them!”

“Heavy,” Elaine agrees, her expression solemn.

“Well,” I begin, choosing my words carefully, “some stories—”

Aldo cuts me off. “I read one book all the way through—just one! And this is what I get for it? The cover should come with a sticker: Warning: Do not read unless you hate dogs!”
― Gordon Korman, The Unteachables

“With my grandmother, there’s always something to slow you down—if isn’t meatloaf, then she’s buttoned her blouse wrong, or she’s wearing slippers instead of shoes, or she’s waiting for Grandpa to come home, even though he died a long time ago.”
― Gordon Korman, The Unteachables

“They have to make it into a story about five brown rabbits and three white rabbits having a rabbit cotillion. That’s where I get lost. Cotillion looks like licit loon to me.”
― Gordon Korman, The Unteachables

“Even though I can’t stand the guy, at that moment, I actually relate to him a little bit. He may be the worst teacher in the world, but we have something in common.

He has anger management problems too.”
― Gordon Korman, The Unteachables

“Well, maybe you can keep it. But you definitely have to put in a catalytic converter.”

“It’s on my list,” I assure her. “Right after a new floor for the back seat, just in case I ever have passengers.”

Parker peers into the back. “Whoa, is that the ground?”

“Air-conditioning,” I supply, tight-lipped. “Old-school.”
― Gordon Korman, The Unteachables

“Rahim is a little tricky, but I think of him as Birdman, because he has really big ears that could easily expand to wings if he gets bitten by a radioactive canary. Crazy, I know, but in comics, that kind of thing happens all the time. Anyway, I can always switch him to Sleeping Beauty. He’s not that beautiful, but he is that sleeping”
― Gordon Korman, The Unteachables

“You ought to be ashamed of yourself!” he accuses Coach Slattery. “You send these kids out there to be tackled and elbowed and hit with hockey sticks. And when they get injured, you abandon them?”
― Gordon Korman, The Unteachables

“I cheer when Barnstorm is introduced. I’ve never known anybody on a team before. He waves a crutch in our direction, and a few of the other kids clap too. Then Rahim falls asleep. His head slumps over and conks the girl sitting next to him.

We get kicked out”
― Gordon Korman, The Unteachables

“How must it feel inside when the closest you can get to saying something nice involves foot odor?”
― Gordon Korman, The Unteachables

“It’s not just for little kids,” Miss Fountain corrects. “It’s for everybody. Positive reinforcement is something you never outgrow. Think of how much better our world would be if national leaders would only sit in a circle and be kind and civil to one another.”
― Gordon Korman, The Unteachables

“Everybody hates something,” I retort. “I don’t like lima beans—am I the Grinch too?”

“It’s not just what you hate; it’s why you hate it,” Mateo replies seriously. “Indiana Jones hates snakes because he’s afraid of them. Superman hates kryptonite because it’s his weakness. The Wicked Witch of the West hates water because it makes her melt. But Mr. Kermit and the Grinch are both haters for the same reason—noise.”
― Gordon Korman, The Unteachables

“Elias”
― Gordon Korman, The Unteachables

“He should earn a puffy-tail for helping and lose it for being mean,” Parker puts in. “At least then he breaks even.”
― Gordon Korman, The Unteachables

“I thought Jake chose us because he wants to make up for the cheating scandal, not because of Miss Fountain.”
― Gordon Korman, The Unteachables

“I read one book all the way through—just one! And this is what I get for it? The cover should come with a sticker: Warning: Do not read unless you hate dogs!”
― Gordon Korman, The Unteachables

“He talks to me about cars, to Barnstorm about sports, and to Mateo about Game of Thrones. He talks to Elaine—I guess car dealers don’t worry about being head-butted down stairs or tossed into garbage dumpsters. He talks to Kiana about practically everything. He asks Rahim’s opinion on the art for new ads for Terranova Motors, and Rahim never so much as yawns when he’s around.”
― Gordon Korman, The Unteachables

“Kid, that was something!” the service chief exclaims admiringly. “If the lift system loses power, can we count on you to pick up cars on your shoulders?”
― Gordon Korman, The Unteachables

“I’ve never ruined anyone’s life, but apparently it’s almost as hard on the messer as it is on the messee.”
― Gordon Korman, The Unteachables