Wisdom Quotes

"Justification is not a character flaw; it is a character building process."

"Self-actualization means fulfilling the potential that you have. It's a higher need than self-esteem."

"To the extent that people are open to experience, they are moving toward a richer and more authentic life."

"Human beings have needs, a hierarchy of needs, and higher needs are only activated after lower needs are satisfied."

"The capacity to be open to experience is the foundation of all growth and healing."

"We cannot control what happens to us, but we can control how we respond to it."

"I find that when persons are listened to with real understanding, without judgment or evaluation, significant changes occur."

"If we can provide understanding and acceptance, a person can come to see himself differently."

"It is astonishing how elements which seem insoluble become soluble when someone listens."

"The person who is fully functioning is marked by an openness to experience."

"The essence of wisdom is knowing when to act and when to refrain from action."

"We are products of our conditioning, but we can change our conditioning."

"Introspection is a poor method for understanding the human mind."

"The child is father to the man through behavioral habituation."

"Morality is learned behavior, no more inherent than walking."

"Understanding behavior is understanding everything about humans."

"Virtue is nothing but repeated virtuous behavioral patterns."

"The psychological distance between the subject and the victim is crucial in determining obedience."

"We underestimate the situational forces that shape human conduct."

"Our research suggests that ethical behavior is more fragile than we assume."

"The person who obeys is not acting from viciousness but from ordinary human compliance."

"The conditions for immoral obedience are more common than the conditions for moral resistance."

"The individual's conscience is surprisingly fragile in institutional settings."

"We must confront the reality that ordinary people are capable of extraordinary harm."

"Institutional distance from the consequences of one's actions enables harmful behavior."

"The ordinary person contains the capacity for extraordinary moral failure."

"Independence of mind is not rebellion; it is fidelity to reality itself."

"Independence requires not immunity to social pressure, but awareness of it."

"The group consensus may feel like truth, but feeling is not evidence."

"Conformity is not a failure of character but a feature of human social existence."