Carl Rogers
Founder of client-centered therapy
Most quoted
"When the other person is hurting, confused, troubled, anxious, alienated, terrified; or when he or she is doubtful of self-worth, uncertain as to identity, then understanding is called for. The gentle and sensitive companionship of an empathic stance… provides illumination and healing. In such situations deep understanding is, I believe, the most precious gift one can give to another."
— from A Way of Being, 1980
"I have found the greater the degree of congruence of experience, awareness, and communication on the part of one individual, the more the ensuing relationship will involve: a tendency toward reciprocal communication; a tendency toward more mutually accurate understanding; improved psychological adjustment and functioning in both parties; mutual satisfaction in the relationship."
— from A Theory of Therapy, Personality and Interpersonal Relationships, 1959
"I believe it will have become evident why, for me, adjectives such as happy, contented, blissful, enjoyable, do not seem quite appropriate to any general description of this process I have called the good life… I believe they would be perceived as by-products of the directions I have described."
— from On Becoming a Person, 1961
All quotes by Carl Rogers (245)
The curious paradox is that when I accept myself just as I am, then I can change.
The good life is a process, not a state of being. It is a direction, not a destination.
In my relationships with persons, I have found that it does not help, in the long run, to act as though I am something I am not.
When I look at the world, I'm pessimistic, but when I look at people, I am optimistic.
The very essence of the organism is that it is a goal-directed, need-satisfying, and self-actualizing being.
Experience is, for me, the highest authority.
The only person who is educated is the one who has learned how to learn and change.
The client knows what hurts, what directions to go, what problems are crucial, what experiences have been deeply buried.
Real communication occurs when we listen with understanding. When we try to see the other person's point of view, to understand what it means to him.
The greatest learning is not in the classroom, but in life itself.
People are just as wonderful as sunsets if you let them be. When I look at a sunset, I don't find myself saying, 'Soften the orange a bit on the right hand corner.' I don't try to control a sunset. I watch it with awe as it unfolds.
The organism has one basic tendency and striving - to actualize, maintain, and enhance the experiencing organism.
Man's inability to communicate is a result of his inability to listen effectively.
What is most personal is most general.
To be with another in this way means that for the time being, you lay aside your own views and values in order to enter another's world without prejudice.
The more I am open to the realities in me and in the other person, the less I find myself wishing to rush in to 'fix things.'
The only question which matters is, 'Am I living in a way which is deeply satisfying to me, and which truly expresses me?'
The client-centered approach is based on the premise that the individual has within himself vast resources for self-understanding, for altering his self-concept, attitudes, and self-directed behavior.
Growth occurs when one person is in a relationship with another who is integrated, congruent, and transparent.
The facts are always friendly.
Contemporaries of Carl Rogers
Other Psychologys born within 50 years of Carl Rogers (1902–1987).