Quotes about Understanding

Principles are the territory. Values are maps. When we value correct principles, we have truth—a knowledge of things as they are.

Go out with your spouse on a regular basis. Have dinner or do something together you both enjoy. Listen to each other; seek to understand.

We know and accept this fact or principle of process in the area of physical things, but to understand it in emotional areas, in human relations, and even in the area of personal character is less common and more difficult. And

it's so important whenever you come into a new situation to get all the expectations out on the table.

He continually made deposits into each of our 'emotional bank accounts' with one-on-one dates and modeled that 'in relationships

I am convinced we will discover and rediscover the truth of T. S. Eliot's observation: We must not cease from exploration and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we began and to know the place for the first time.

Through deep thought and the exercise of faith and prayer, we began to see our son in terms of his own uniqueness.

We have such a tendency to rush in, to fix things up with good advice. But we often fail to take the time to diagnose, to really, deeply understand the problem first. If I were to summarize in one sentence the single most important principle I have learned in the field of interpersonal relations, it would be this: Seek first to understand, then to be understood. This principle is the key to effective interpersonal communication.

When relationships are strained and the air charged with emotion, an attempt to teach is often perceived as a form of judgment and rejection.

True love is found in the affirmation of another person's identity and stewardship, in seeking his or her growth and good, not on interpreting all the other person's responses in terms of one's own needs, hungers, or desires.

The person who is truly effective has the humility and reverence to recognize his own perceptual limitations and to appreciate the rich resources available through interaction with the hearts and minds of other human beings. That person values the differences because those differences add to his knowledge, to his understanding of reality. When we're left to our own experiences, we constantly suffer from a shortage of data.

Listening involves patience, openness, and the desire to understand—highly developed qualities of character.