Quotessence
Home / Quotes / Quote by Selma Fraiberg

Quote by Selma Fraiberg

“Language makes it possible for a child to incorporate his parents' verbal prohibitions, to make them part of himself....We don't speak of a conscience yet in the child who is just acquiring language, but we can see very clearly how language plays an indispensable role in the formation of conscience. In fact, the moral achievement of man, the whole complex of factors that go into the organization of conscience is very largely based upon language.”

Quote by Selma Fraiberg

Create image

Author

Selma Fraiberg
Selma Fraiberg

Selma Fraiberg (March 8, 1918 - December 19, 1981) was an American psychologist and author. Her book 'The Magic Years' had a profound impact on the field of child psychology. more

You May Also Like

“An older child, one who possesses a conscience, will be troubled with self-reproaches and feelings of shame for his naughtiness, even if he is not discovered. But our two-year-olds and our three-year- olds experience guilt feelings only when they feel or anticipate disapproval from the outside. In doing this, they have taken the first steps toward the goal of conscience, but there is a long way ahead before the policeman outside becomes the policeman inside.”

IfsWayFeelsYearsFirstsChildrenLongTwoSelfFeelingsThreeGoalStepsTakenConscienceShameGuiltTwo YearsThree YearsFirst StepsLong WayPolicemenAnticipateReproachDisapprovalThree Year OldsTwo Year OldsGuilt Feelings
Author:Selma Fraiberg
Create image

“It no longer makes sense to speak of "feeding problems" or "sleep problems" or "negative behavior" is if they were distinct categories, but to speak of "problems of development" and to search for the meaning of feeding and sleep disturbances or behavior disorders in the developmental phase which has produced them.”

IfsProblemSpeakSleepDevelopmentBehaviorNegativeMake SenseCategoriesDisorderPhasesFeedingDisturbanceDevelopmentalNegative Behavior
Book:The Magic Years: Understanding and Handling the Problems of Early Childhood
Create image

“The child begins life as a pleasure-seeking animal; his infantile personality is organized around his own appetites and his own body. In the course of his rearing the goal of exclusive pleasure seeking must be modified drastically, the fundamental urges must be subject to the dictates of conscience and society, urges must be capable of postponement and in some instances of renunciation completely.”

ChildrenBodyCoursesGoalPleasureAnimalSubjectsPersonalityCapableConscienceFundamentalsSeekingInstanceOrganizedUrgesAppetiteExclusiveRenunciationInfantilePostponementPleasure Seeking
Book:The Magic Years: Understanding and Handling the Problems of Early Childhood
Create image

“A method of child-rearing is not--or should not be--a whim, a fashion or a shibboleth. It should derive from an understanding of the developing child, of his physical and mental equipment at any given stage, and, therefore, his readiness at any given stage to adapt, to learn, to regulate his behavior according to parental expectations.”

ShouldChildrenGivenUnderstandingStageFashionBehaviorExpectationsMethodDevelopingEquipmentReadinessWhimParentalChild Rearing
Book:The Magic Years: Understanding and Handling the Problems of Early Childhood
Create image

“It is confidently expected that the period is at hand, when man, through ignorance, shall not much longer inflict unnecessary misery on man; because the mass of mankind will become enlightened, and will clearly discern that by so acting they will inevitably create misery to themselves.”

MenHandsActingMankindIgnorancePeriodsMassMiseryExpectedEnlightenedUnnecessary
Book:First American from the third London edition
Create image

“The meaning of the living words that come out of the experiences of great hearts can never be exhausted by any one system of logical interpretation. They have to be endlessly explained by the commentaries of individual lives, and they gain an added mystery in each new revelation.”

HeartIndividualMysteryGainsRevelationsLogicalInterpretationExhaustedCommentaryIndividual LifeGreat Hearts
Book:SĀDHANĀ - The Realisation of life
Create image

“That so many writers have been prepared to accept a kind of martyrdom is the best tribute that flesh can pay to the living spirit of man as expressed in his literature. One cannot doubt that the martyrdom will continue to be gladly embraced. To some of us, the wresting of beauty out of language is the only thing in the world that matters.”

MenWorldKindHas BeensMatterSpiritLiteratureLanguagePayAcceptingDoubtPreparedFleshTributeMartyrdom
Author:Anthony Burgess
Create image