Alfred Adler Quotes

“A lie would have no sense unless the truth were felt as dangerous.”

“All failures - neurotics, psychotics, criminals, drunkards, problem children, suicides, perverts, and prostitutes - are failures because they are lacking in social interest.”

“Children who have not been taught to confront challenges will try to avoid all challenges.”

“Courage is not an ability one either possess or lacks. Courage is the willingness to engage in a risk-taking behavior regardless of whether the consequences are unknown or possibly adverse. We are capable of courageous behavior provided we are willing to engage in it. Given that life offers few guarantees, all living requires risk-taking.”

“Death is really a great blessing for humanity, without it there could be no real progress. People who lived for ever would not only hamper and discourage the young, but they would themselves lack sufficient stimulus to be creative.”

“Every pampered child becomes a hated child.... There is no greater evil than the pampering of children.”

“Everything can always be different!”

“Exaggerated sensitiveness is an expression of the feeling of inferiority.”

“Follow your heart but take your brain with you.”

“It is easier to fight for one's principles than to live up to them.”

“It is easy to believe that life is long and one's gifts are vast -- easy at the beginning, that is. But the limits of life grow more evident; it becomes clear that great work can be done rarely, if at all.”

“It is the patriotic duty of every man to lie for his country.”

“It is very obvious that we are not influenced by facts but by our interpretation of the facts.”

“Mathematics is pure language - the language of science. It is unique among languages in its ability to provide precise expression for every thought or concept that can be formulated in its terms.”

“Meanings are not determined by situations, but we determine ourselves by the meanings we give to situations.”

“Men of genius are admired, men of wealth are envied, men of power are feared; but only men of character are trusted.”

“My difficulties belong to me!”

“No experience is a cause of success or failure. We do not suffer from the shock of our experiences, so-called trauma - but we make out of them just what suits our purposes.”

“No man can think, feel, will, nor even dream, without everything being defined, conditioned, limited, directed by a goal which floats before him.”

“Nobody adopts antisocial behaviour unless they fear that they will fail if they remain on the social side of life.”

“Overcoming difficulties leads to courage, self-respect, and knowing yourself.”

“Play is a child's work and this is not a trivial pursuit.”

“Seeing with the eyes of another, listening with the ears of another, and feeling with the heart of another.”

“The chief danger in life is that you may take too many precautions.”

“The educator must believe in the potential power of his pupil, and he must employ all his art in seeking to bring his pupil to experience this power.”

“The feeling of inferiority rules the mental life and can be clearly recognized in the sense of incompleteness and unfulfillment, and in the uninterrupted struggle both of individuals and humanity.”

“The important thing is not what one is born with but what use one makes of that equipment.”

“The one who boasts does so only out of a feeling of inferiority.”

“The only normal people are the ones you don't know very well.”

“The only worthwhile achievements of man are those which are socially useful.”