William Glasser quotes

We almost always have choices, and the better the choice, the more we will be in control of our lives. (William Glasser)
When we depress, we believe we are the victims of a feeling over which we have no control. View quote
William Glasser
This is at the heart of all good education, where the teacher asks students to think and engages them in encouraging dialogues, constantly checking for understanding and growth. View quote
William Glasser
We are driven by five genetic needs: survival, love and belonging, power, freedom, and fun. View quote
William Glasser
If we had in this room a hundred teachers, good teachers from good schools, and asked them to define the word education, there would be very little general agreement. View quote
William Glasser
When a client says, It's hard to say, he usually knows what's really going on but doesn't want to talk about it.... I break through that reluctance by acting as if it wasn't there. 'Well, say it anyway. This is the place to say hard-to-say-things. View quote
William Glasser
If you want to change attitudes, start with a change in behavior. View quote
William Glasser
To be depressed or neurotic is passive. It happened to us; we are its victim, and we have no control over it. This use of nouns and adjectives makes it logical for us to believe that we can do nothing for ourselves...but you are capable of choosing something better. If it is a choice, it follows that you are responsible for making it. With verbs, you are not a victim of mental illness; you are either the beneficiary of your own good choices or the victim of your own bad choices. You are not ill in the usual sense of having the flu or food poisoning. A choice theory world is a tough responsible world; you cannot use grammar to escape responsibility for what you are doing. View quote
William Glasser
Drugs provide pleasure; they cannot provide happiness. For happiness, you need people. View quote
William Glasser
The most destructive habit [to relationships] is criticizing; next comes blaming, but any of the habits are more than capable of disconnecting you from a person you want to be close with. View quote
William Glasser
We would be much better off getting rid of the psychology that is causing so much misery than looking for chemicals that make us feel better but do nothing to solve our loneliness. (William Glasser)
Such people who choose to depress are not mentally ill; their brain chemistry is not abnormal. It is changed from what it is when they are happy, but that change is perfectly normal for the total behavior, depressing, they are choosing.... The brain chemistry no more causes his depressing than sweating causes running. It is the choice to depress or to run that results in both. View quote
William Glasser
Your teen may be weaker, but he is not without the ability to do himself and others a lot of harm by showing you that you can't control him at school or anywhere else when he is out of your sight.... [W]hen he is on his own, your only control over him is the strength of your relationship. View quote
William Glasser
Brain drugs may make us feel better, but they do not solve the problems that led us to feel miserable. View quote
William Glasser
The Seven Deadly Habits of External Control: Blaming, Criticizing, Complaining, Nagging, Threatening, Punishing, and Bribing. View quote
William Glasser
[Reality Therapy] is based on choice theory and focuses on improving present relationships, almost always disregards past relationships, and depends for its success on creating a good relationship between the client and the counselor. View quote
William Glasser
Education is the process in which we discover that learning adds quality to our lives. Learning must be experienced. View quote
William Glasser
What happened in the past that was painful has a great deal to do with what we are today, but revisiting this painful past can contribute little or nothing to what we need to do now. View quote
William Glasser
No human being will work hard at anything unless they believe that they are working for competence. View quote
William Glasser
We can teach a lot of things, but if the teacher can't relate by talking to a group of friendly students, he'll never be a competent teacher. View quote
William Glasser
It is almost impossible for anyone, even the most ineffective among us, to continue to choose misery after becoming aware that it is a choice. (William Glasser)
We don't focus as much in schools on educational knowledge which requires thinking and application, as we do on acquiring facts. View quote
William Glasser
Caring for but never trying to own may be a further way to define friendship. View quote
William Glasser
They have this big book called the 'DSM-IV,' you know, that is supposedly written about crazy people, but I think it is a book that is written by crazy people! View quote
William Glasser
When we label anyone 'bad', we will have more trouble dealing with him than if we could have settled for a lesser label. View quote
William Glasser