# Quote — Bel Kaufman, Up the Down Staircase

> The cardinal sin, strange as it may seem in an institution of learning, is talking. There are others, of course — sins, I mean, and I seem to have committed a good number. Yesterday I was playing my record of Gielgud reading Shakespeare. I had brought my own phonograph to school (no one could find the Requisition Forms for "Audio-Visual Aids" — that's the name for the school record player) and I had succeeded, I thought, in establishing a mood. I mean, I got them to be quiet, when — enter Admiral Ass, in full regalia, epaulettes quivering with indignation. He snapped his fingers for me to stop the phonograph, waited for the turntable to stop turning, and pronounced:
>
> "There will be a series of three bells rung three times indicating Emergency Shelter Drill. Playing records does not encourage the orderly evacuation of the class."

- Author: [Bel Kaufman](https://www.leafyquotes.com/bel-kaufman.md)
- Book: [Up the Down Staircase](https://www.leafyquotes.com/bel-kaufman/up-the-down-staircase.md)
- Source: [Wikiquote](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Bel_Kaufman#Up_the_Down_Staircase_(1965)) ([CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/))
- Quote page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/bel-kaufman/up-the-down-staircase/the-cardinal-sin

## More from this book

> A teacher is frequently the only adult in the pupil's environment who treats him with respect.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/bel-kaufman/up-the-down-staircase/a-teacher-is-frequently.md)

> My words never reached him; I could almost hear them drop, one by one, like so many pebbles against a closed window.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/bel-kaufman/up-the-down-staircase/my-words-never.md)

> How can I take seriously such mimeographed absurdities as "Lateness due to absence," "High under-achiever," and "Polio consent slips"?
>
> —SylDear Syl,
>
> I'll match yours any day with "Please disregard the following."
>
> —Bea

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/bel-kaufman/up-the-down-staircase/how-can-i-take.md)