# Quote — Bel Kaufman, Up the Down Staircase

> The ceiling fell? The ink ran dry? A student dared to smile?
>
> Of every new disaster
>
> I prove myself the master
>
> By sending out more circulars, more circulars to file!
>
> A missing kid? A kissing kid? A paper on the floor?
>
> For every major crisis
>
> One remedy suffices:
>
> More circulars, more circulars, to put into a drawer!A crowded cafeteria?
>
> A substitute's hysteria?
>
> A visitor from Syria?
>
> A missing Book Receipt?I merely send out circulars
>
> To add to other circulars
>
> To add to other circulars
>
> Numerical and neat!

- 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-ceiling-fell

## 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)