Quote… Unquote Darryl Wideman, Head of Radnor House Twickenham, shares his collection of favourite quotations
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he BBC Radio Four programme Quote… Unquote has been running since 1976 and there have been nearly 500 episodes, all of them hosted by Nigel Rees. While some people think it is the best programme on the radio, others find it less palatable, so its overall reputation has something of a Marmite quality about it. However, regardless of how one might feel about Mr Rees and his show, there is no doubt that quotations play a significant role in the world of education. Some schools have them as their mottos or straplines. They feature every day as part of the curriculum in English and Humanities classrooms, and it must be almost impossible to visit a school and not find a quotation or several on display in corridors, libraries and work areas. Colleagues send them to each other, and I do not think I have ever led a staff training day without someone else’s wisdom featuring at the start or the end. I have accumulated about 40 pages of quotations over the years. I must have somewhere in the region of 600 succinctly expressed ideas, but before now, I have never tried to narrow my selection to my favourites. Another Radio Four staple — Desert Island Discs — limits its castaways to eight chosen records. I could not bring myself to go quite so far, but I have reduced my list to just under 20 and tried to group them where I can. Soon after becoming a head teacher, I attended an inspirational training session with Sir John Jones, who started with Maya Angelou’s words: “I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what
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ʻThrow off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbour. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.ʼ Mark Twain
you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” If you think back to your own school days and remember your favourite teacher, I am sure you will be able to relate to this. Most aspects of senior leadership involve problem solving. Sometimes you have the satisfaction of tackling an issue once and for all, but I am often reminded of US Secretary of State John Foster Dulles, after whom the airport in Washington DC is named: “The measure of success is not whether you have a
