Carl Rogers

It is necessary for me to stay close to the earthiness of real experience. I cannot live my life in abstractions. So real relationships with persons, hands dirtied in the soil, observing the budding of a flower, or viewing the sunset, are necessary to my life. At least one foot must be in the soil of reality.

. ...A finely tuned understanding by another individual gives the recipient a sense of personhood, of identity. In the ordinary interactions of life congruence is probably the most important element. Congruence, or genuineness, involves letting the other person know "who you are" emotionally. It may involve confrontation and the straightforward expression of personally owned feelings - both negative and positive.

The curious paradox is that when I accept myself just as I am, then I can change.

What I am is good enough if I would only be it openly.

The very essence of the creative is its novelty, and hence we have no standard by which to judge it.

The only person who is educated is the one who has learned how to learn . . . and change.

. . . though modern Marriage is a tremendous laboratory, its members are often without preparation for the partnership function. How much agony and remorse and failure could have been avoided if there had been at least some rudimentary learning before they entered the partnership.

Neurotic behavior is quite predictable. Healthy behavior is unpredictable.