20+ Donald Woods Winnicott Quotes On Family, Being

Donald Woods Winnicott was a British psychoanalyst and pediatrician who developed a number of theories, including the concept of the "good enough mother". He is best known for his work on the development of the child and his theories on the transitional object and the potential space. He is also known for his work on the maturational process of the individual and for his theories on the importance of play in the development of the child. Following is our collection on famous quotes by Donald Woods Winnicott on love, family, being.

I would rather be the child of a mother who has all the inner conflicts of the human being than be mothered by someone for whom all is easy and smooth, who knows all the answers, and is a stranger to doubt. — Donald Woods Winnicott

The fact that grief takes so long to resolve is not a sign of inadequacy, but betokens depth of soul. — Donald Woods Winnicott

It is in playing and only in playing that the individual child or adult is able to be creative and to use the whole personality, and it is only in being creative that the individual discovers the self. — Donald Woods Winnicott

Creativity consists in maintaining a key aspect of the experience of childhood throughout one's life: the capacity to create and recreate the world. Creativity is the omnipotence of the child's mind. — Donald Woods Winnicott

The precursor of the mirror is the mother's face. — Donald Woods Winnicott

We fight to exist. Personally, I am not ashamed of fighting to exist. We are doing no very extraordinary thing to fight simply because we do not wish to be enslaved or exterminated. — Donald Woods Winnicott

I don't mind saying in advance that in my opinion jealousy is normal and healthy. Jealousy arises out of the fact that children love. If they have no capacity to love, then they don't show jealousy. — Donald Woods Winnicott

Play like dreams serves the function of self realization. — Donald Woods Winnicott

There is for many a poverty of play. — Donald Woods Winnicott

Feeling real is more than existing; it is finding a way to exist as oneself... and to have a self into which to retreat for relaxation. — Donald Woods Winnicott

It's only too easy to idealise a mother's job. We know well that every job has its frustrations and its boring routines and its times of being the last thing anyone would choose to do. Well, why shouldn't the care of babies and children be thought of that way too? — Donald Woods Winnicott

However, it can't be helped; mothers, if they do their job properly, are the representatives of the hard, demanding world and it is they who gradually introduce reality which is so often the enemy of impulse. There is anger with mother and hatred is somewhere even when there is absolutely no doubt of love that is mixed with adoration. — Donald Woods Winnicott

The capacity to still feel wonder is essential to the creative process. — Donald Woods Winnicott

It is a joy to be hidden, and disaster not to be found. — Donald Woods Winnicott

It's a poor thing to be sane! — Donald Woods Winnicott

Artists are people driven by the tension between the desire to communicate and the desire to hide. — Donald Woods Winnicott

Tell me what you fear and I will tell you what has happened to you. — Donald Woods Winnicott

There is no such thing as a baby, there is a baby and someone. — Donald Woods Winnicott

It is in playing, and perhaps only in playing, that the child is free to be creative. — Donald Woods Winnicott

The scientific approach to the phenomenon of human nature enables us to be ignorant without bieng frightened, and without, therefore, having to invent all sorts of wierd theories to explain away our gaps in knowledge. — Donald Woods Winnicott

Life Lessons by Donald Woods Winnicott

1. Donald Woods Winnicott's work emphasizes the importance of a secure and nurturing environment in order to foster healthy emotional development.
2. He also believed that a supportive and trusting relationship between the parent and child is essential for the child's psychological growth.
3. Winnicott's theories suggest that a child's emotional wellbeing is dependent on the quality of the relationship with their primary caregiver.