Dr. Benjamin Spock Quotes

Trust yourself, you know more than you think you do.

I'm not a pacifist. I was very much for the war against Hitler and I also supported the intervention in Korea, but in this war we went in there to steal Vietnam.

What good mothers and fathers instinctively feel like doing for their babies is usually best after all.

Without freedom of choice, there is no creativity. Without creativity, there is no life.

The main source of good discipline is growing up in a loving family, being loved and learning to love in return.

A human being is happiest and most successful when dedicated to a cause outside his own individual, selfish satisfaction.

The child supplies the power but the parents have to do the steering.

Physical punishment teaches children that the larger, stronger person has the power to get his way, whether or not he is in the right, and they may resent this in the parent-for life.

Can we make a better world for our children? I believe we can, if enough people are concerned and get involved in changing what is wrong with society.

Don't be afraid to trust your own common sense.

Respect children because they're human beings and they deserve respect, and they'll grow up to be better people.

There are only two things a child will share willingly; communicable diseases and its mother's age.

It's up to each of us to help create a better world for our children.

The fact is that child rearing is a long, hard job, the rewards are not always immediately obvious, the work is undervalued, and parents are just as human and almost as vulnerable as their children.

Happiness is mostly a by-product of doing what makes us feel fulfilled.

I would say that the surest measure of a man's or a woman's maturity is the harmony, style, joy, and dignity he creates in his marriage, and the pleasure and inspiration he provides for his spouse.

When women are encouraged to be competitive, too many of them become disagreeable.

Most middle-class whites have no idea what it feels like to be subjected to police who are routinely suspicious, rude, belligerent, and brutal.

All the time a person is a child he is both a child and learning to be a parent. After he becomes a parent he becomes predominantly a parent reliving childhood.

The strongest rebellion may be expressed in quiet, undramatic behavior.

If I could make only one wish for a child, I'd wish him the quality of lovingness.

The loving person makes other people feel good, and he is usually a happy person himself. He is able to form strong, long-lasting friendships.

A boy, by the age of 3 years, senses that his destiny is to be a man, so he watches his father particularly-his interests, manner, speech, pleasures, his attitude toward work.

Our greatest hope is to bring up children inspired by their opportunities for being helpful and loving.

I really learned it all from mothers.

It's not the words but the music that counts.

Biologically and temperamentally... women were made to be concerned firt and foremost with child care, husband care and home care.

Don't worry about trying to do a perfect job. There is no perfect job. There is no one way of raising your children.

Don't take too seriously all that the neighbors say. Don't be overawed by what the experts say. Don't be afraid to trust your own common sense.

To win in Vietnam, we will have to exterminate a nation.

What is the use of physicians like myself trying to help parents to bring up children healthy and happy, to have them killed in such numbers for a cause that is ignoble?

I was proud of the youths who opposed the war in Vietnam because they were my babies.

Perhaps a child who is fussed over gets a feeling of destiny; he thinks he is the world for something important, and it gives him drive and confidence.

I was so afraid of being bad and being caught at it.

People have said, "You've turned your back on pediatrics." I said, "No. It took me until I was in my 60s to realize that politics was a part of pediatrics."

I've come to the realization that a lot of our problems are because of a dearth of spiritual values.

I agree today that a man has no business trying to tell women what their characteristics are, which ones are inborn, which are more admirable, which will be best utilized by what occupations.

In our country today, very few children are raised to believe that their principal destiny is to serve their family, their country, or God.

Grandparents have the freedom to see their grandchildren uncritically.

Having a good time together is the essence of lovingness and the best means of increasing it.

How to fold a diaper depends on the size of the baby and the diaper.

I love to dance and I'd love to be saying goodbye to my friends while the band was playing and they were dancing...I want them to remember I was a dancing man in my day.

There are only two things a child will share willingly communicable diseases and its mother's age.

There are only two things a child will share willingly - communicable diseases and his mother's age.

In automobile terms, the child supplies the power but the parents have to do the steering.

Trust yourself. You know more than you think you do.