Quote collection
57 quotes — follow a thought to its full quote page.
"I have talked about choosing rather than acting from compulsion. When you feel that you have to live according to someone else's direction or live so that you never disappoint or hurt anybody, then your life is a continual assessment of whether or not you please other people."
"In the nurturing family...parents see themselves as empowering leaders not as authoritative bosses. They see their job primarily as one of teaching their children how to be truly human in all situations. They readily acknowledge to the child their poor judgment as well as their good judgment; their hurt, anger, or disappointment as well as their joy. The behavior of these parents matches what they say."
"Once a human being has arrived on this earth, communication is the largest single factor determining what kinds of relationships he makes with others and what happens to him in the world about him."
"The greatest gift I can give is to see, hear, understand, and touch another person."
"We need to see ourselves as basic miracles."
"I want to appreciate you without judging. Join you without invading. Invite you without demanding. Leave you without guilt."
"The Problem is never the problem! It is only a symptom of something much deeper."
"We can learn something new anytime we believe we can."
"Problems are not the problem; coping is the problem."
"Parents teach in the toughest school in the word: The School for Making People. You are the board of education, the principal, theclassroom teacher, and the janitor, all rolled into two. . . . There are few schools to train you for your job, and there is no general agreement on the curriculum. . . . You are on duty, or at least on call, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, for at least 18 years for each child you have. Besides that, you have to contend with an administration that has two leaders or bosses, whichever the case may be."
"Our biggest problem as human beings is not knowing that we don't know."
"I own me, and therefore, I can engineer me. I am me, and I am Okay."
"It is O. K. for me to feel angry and to express it in responsible ways."
"As a therapist, I am a companion. I try to help people tune into their own wisdom."
"What lingers from the parent's individual past, unresolved or incomplete, often becomes part of her or his irrational parenting."
"Put together all the existing families and you have society. It is as simple as that. Whatever kind of training took place in the individual family will be reflected in the kind of society that these families create."
"Rearing a family is probably the most difficult job in the world. It resembles two business firms merging their respective resources to make a single product. All the potential headaches of that operation are present when an adult male and an adult female join to steer a child from infancy to adulthood."
"Many people are living in an emotional jail without realizing it."
"The full life is filled with vulnerability, not defense. You face whatever feeling there is."
"The recommended daily requirement for hugs is: four per day for survival, eight per day for maintenance, and twelve per day for growth."