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 more I can be myself in the relationship, the more helpful I will be.
The goal of education is to facilitate learning.
The individual has a natural tendency toward health and growth.
The person-centered approach is not a set of techniques, but a way of being.
The therapist's function is to be a facilitator of growth.
I have found that I can trust the process of life.
The fully functioning person is one who is open to all of his experience, without defensiveness.
The only way to help a person is to understand him.
The client-centered approach emphasizes the importance of the client's subjective experience.
The more I am able to be myself, the more I find myself able to help others.
The person-centered approach is a philosophy of life.
The organism has one basic tendency and striving—to actualize, maintain, and enhance the experiencing organism.
When I truly accept another person as he is, then I am helping him to change.
The very essence of the organism is to be forward-moving and constructive.
Man's inability to communicate is a result of his inability to listen effectively, skillfully, and with understanding to another person.
The greatest learning comes from doing.
The person who is psychologically healthy is one who is open to experience, lives existentially, and trusts his or her own organismic valuing process.
When I accept myself as I am, I change.
The goal of therapy is not to solve problems, but to help the individual grow to the point where he can cope with problems.
The fully functioning person is a person who is continually striving to actualize his or her full potential.
Contemporaries of Carl Rogers
Other Psychologys born within 50 years of Carl Rogers (1902–1987).