“ Experience has taught us that we have only one enduring weapon in our struggle against mental illness: the emotional discovery of our truth about the unique history of our childhood. Alice Miller
“ For the human soul is virtually indestructible, and its ability to rise from the ashes remains as long as the body draws breath. Alice Miller
“ All children are born to grow, to develop, to live, to love, and to articulate their needs and feelings for their self-protection. Alice Miller
“ We don't yet know, above all, what the world might be like if children were to grow up without being subjected to humiliation, if parents would respect them and take them seriously as people. Alice Miller
“ Thus he spent his whole life searching for his own truth, but it remained hidden to him because he had learned at a very young age to hate himself for what his mother had done to him. (...) But not on… Alice Miller
“ Learning is a result of listening, which in turn leads to even better listening and attentiveness to the other person. In other words, to learn from the child, we must have empathy, and empathy grows… Alice Miller
“ Wherever I look, I see signs of the commandment to honor one's parents and nowhere of a commandment that calls for the respect of a child. Alice Miller
“ Genuine feelings cannot be produced, nor can they be eradicated. We can only repress them, delude ourselves, and deceive our bodies. The body sticks to the facts. Alice Miller
“ I was not out to paint beautiful pictures even painting good pictures was not important to me. I wanted only to help the truth burst forth. Alice Miller
“ The more we idealized the past, however, and refuse to acknowledge or childhood sufferings, the more we pass them on unconsciously to the next generation. Alice Miller
“ What is addiction, really? It is a sign, a signal, a symptom of distress. It is a language that tells us about a plight that must be understood. Alice Miller
“ To forget and to repress would be a good solution if there were no more to it than that. But repressed pain blocks emotional life and leads to physical symptoms. And the worst thing is that although t… Alice Miller
“ I've spoken of the patient Peter who was obsessively forced to make conquests with women, to seduce and then to abandon them, until he was at last able to experience how he himself had repeatedly been… Alice Miller
“ Child abuse is still sanctioned — indeed, held in high regard — in our society as long as it is defined as child-rearing. It is a tragic fact that parents beat their children in order to escape the em… Alice Miller
“ Once upon a time there was a child who had a golden brain. His parents only discovered this by chance when he injured his head and gold instead of blood flowed out. They then began to look after him c… Alice Miller
“ The public forum is not, of course, the most helpful place to conduct a profitable confrontation with one's parents. If we are to allow the feelings of childhood to be revived, we need an enlightened… Alice Miller
“ Cruelty is the opposite of love, and its traumatic effect, far from being reduced, is actually reinforced if it is presented as a sign of love. Alice Miller
“ A human being born into a cold, indifferent world will regard his situation as the only possible one. Alice Miller
“ Not to take one's own suffering seriously, to make light of it or even to laugh at it, is considered good manners in our culture. Alice Miller
“ Narcissistic cathexis of the child by the mother does not exclude emotional devotion. On the contrary, she loves the child as her self-object, excessively, though not in the manner that he needs, and… Alice Miller
