63 Quotes by Bruno Bettelheim

"Whoever influences the child’s life ought to try to give him a positive view of himself and of his world. The child’s future happiness and his ability to cope with life and relate to others will depend on it."

"From a child’s play, we can gain understanding of how he sees and construes the world – what he would like it to be, what his concerns are, what problems are besetting him."

"As the creative adult needs to toy with ideas, the child, to form his ideas, needs toys – and plenty of leisure and scope to play with them as he likes, and not just the way adults think proper. This is why he must be given this freedom for his play to be successful and truly serve him well."

"The parent must not give in to his desire to try to create the child he would like to have, but rather help the child to develop – in his own good time – to the fullest, into what he wishes to be and can be, in line with his natural endowment and as the consequence of his unique life in history."

"The ability to read becomes devalued when what one has learned to read adds nothing of importance to one’s life."

"The fear of failure is so great, it is no wonder that the desire to do right by one’s children has led to a whole library of books offering advice on how to raise them."

"Among the most valuable but least appreciated experiences parenthood can provide are the opportunities it offers for exploring, reliving, and resolving one’s own childhood problems in the context of one’s relation to one’s child."

"Even Aristotle, master of pure reason, said: ‘The friend of wisdom is also a friend of myth."

"Therefore, even more than at the times fairy tales were invented, it is important to provide the modern child with images of heroes who have to go out into the world all by themselves and who, although originally ignorant of the ultimate things, find secure places in the world by following their right way with deep inner confidence."

"He disappears, and her endless wanderings in search of him take her to the moon, the sun, and the wind."