Carl Rogers Quotes

During the writing of all of my books, I've learned that, most of all, people want to know that someone is listening and - this is the tricky part - remembering.

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.

Someone's got to be interested in how I feel, just because I'm here and I'm real.

Being heard is so close to being loved that for the average person they are almost indistinguishable.

Sometimes people just need to feel heard, and being an actor has taught me to really listen.

I think more than anything, people just want to be understood.

We think we listen, but very rarely do we listen with real understanding, true empathy. Yet listening, of this very special kind, is one of the most potent forces for change that I know.

Knowing pain is a very important ingredient of being there for another person.

I cannot cure everybody. I cannot help everybody. But to tell the lonely person that I am not far or different from that lonely person, that I am with him or her, that's all I think we can do and we should do.

I think if you follow anyone home, whether they live in Houston or London, and you sit at their dinner table and talk to them about their mother who has cancer or their child who is struggling in school, and their fears about watching their lives go by, I think we're all the same.

At least I had that, one guy understood me.

It's beautiful to have people look me in the eyes and actually treat me like a human.

One of the biggest lessons I've learned during my time on 'Oprah' is that everyone wants to be heard. We all want to have our humanity acknowledged - to have others see us for who we truly are. We all want to know that we are valued, we are heard, we are understood.

A prerequisite to empathy is simply paying attention to the person in pain.

Listening is a magnetic and strange thing, a creative force. The friends who listen to us are the ones we move toward. When we are listened to, it creates us, makes us unfold and expand.

All I want is for people, when they read my books, to feel companioned, to feel they're not alone in the world.

It's human desire to be understood. And we always feel we're not understood.

You can win more friends with your ears than with your mouth. People who feel like they're being listened to feel accepted and appreciated. They feel like they're being taken seriously and what they say really matters.

Sometimes it's a form of love just to talk to somebody that you have nothing in common with and still be fascinated by their presence.

When you least expect it, someone may actually listen to what you have to say.

Why is it so unutterably beneficial, the thought that someone besides myself knows me?

Flaws make us all human, and you're rooting for characters because of those flaws. It's ageless if you're interested in relationships and the way people can or can't relate to each other.

Listening is such a simple act. It requires us to be present, and that takes practice, but we don't have to do anything else. We don't have to advise, or coach, or sound wise. We just have to be willing to sit there and listen.

I think half or almost all of the pain in the world … is people not feeling seen. It’s like Mr. Rogers, my hero, says: “Love is the root of everything … love or the lack of it.”

It's always marvelous to have somebody who, you know, you feel understands and wants to encourage.