Virginia Satir Quotes

We must not allow other people’s limited perceptions to define us.

We get together on the basis of our similarities; we grow on the basis of our differences.

We need 4 hugs a day for survival. We need 8 hugs a day for maintenance. We need 12 hugs a day for growth.

I want you to get excited about who you are, what you are, what you have, and what can still be for you. I want to inspire you to see that you can go far beyond where you are right now.

Communication is to relationships what breath is to life.

We must not allow other people's limited perceptions to define us.

Every word, facial expression, gesture, or action on the part of a parent gives the child some message about self-worth. It is sad that so many parents don't realize what messages they are sending.

I believe the greatest gift I can conceive of having from anyone is to be seen by them, heard by them, to be understood and touched by them.

Your responses to the events of life are more important than the events themselves.

People prefer the certainty of misery to the misery of uncertainty

The message sent is not always the message received.

Parents teach in the toughest school in the world - The School for Making People. You are the board of education, the principal, the classroom teacher, and the janitor.

Once a human being has arrived on this earth, communication is the largest single factor determining what kinds of relationships he makes with others and what happens to him in the world about him.

The greatest gift I can give is to see, hear, understand, and touch another person.

We need to see ourselves as basic miracles.

I want to appreciate you without judging. Join you without invading. Invite you without demanding. Leave you without guilt.

The Problem is never the problem! It is only a symptom of something much deeper.

We can learn something new anytime we believe we can.

Problems are not the problem; coping is the problem.

Our biggest problem as human beings is not knowing that we don't know.

I own me, and therefore, I can engineer me. I am me, and I am Okay.

As a therapist, I am a companion. I try to help people tune into their own wisdom.

It is O. K. for me to feel angry and to express it in responsible ways.

What lingers from the parent's individual past, unresolved or incomplete, often becomes part of her or his irrational parenting.

The full life is filled with vulnerability, not defense. You face whatever feeling there is.

Many people are living in an emotional jail without realizing it.

Adolescents are not monsters. They are just people trying to learn how to make it among the adults in the world, who are probably not so sure themselves.

The recommended daily requirement for hugs is: four per day for survival, eight per day for maintenance, and twelve per day for growth.

Taste everything, but swallow only what fits.

I give life to that which I notice. What I don't notice dies.

I know people can change-right down to my bones, through every cell, in every fiber of my body-I now that people can change. It is just a question of when and in what context.

You have all played a significant part in my development of loving. As a result, my life has been rich and full, so I leave feeling very grateful.

I am me and I am okay.

Why Family Therapy...because it deals with family pain.

No one's fingerprints are exactly the same as anyone else's.

You have learned what you have learned very well. It has helped you survive.

A growing body of clinical observation has pointed to the conclusion that the family therapy must be oriented to the family as a whole.

So much is asked of parents, and so little is given.

Negotiating the adolescent stage is neither quick nor easy.

Once a human being has arrived on this earth communication is the largest single factor determining what kinds of relationships he makes with others and what happens to him in the world about him.

Problems are not the problem coping is the problem.