Top 233 Quotes & Sayings by Fred Rogers

Explore popular quotes and sayings by an American celebrity Fred Rogers.
Last updated on November 25, 2024.
Fred Rogers

Fred McFeely Rogers, also known as Mister Rogers, was an American television host, author, producer, and Presbyterian minister. He was the creator, showrunner, and host of the preschool television series Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, which ran from 1968 to 2001.

The number 143 means 'I love you.' It takes one letter to say 'I' and four letters to say 'love' and three letters to say 'you.' One hundred and forty-three. 'I love you.' Isn't that wonderful?
Love isn't a perfect state of caring. It's an active noun, like 'struggle.'
I don't think that the basics that kids need have changed in 10,000 years. — © Fred Rogers
I don't think that the basics that kids need have changed in 10,000 years.
Parents are like shuttles on a loom. They join the threads of the past with threads of the future and leave their own bright patterns as they go.
In my own life, as the nearer I get to the end of life on this earth, the simpler I want to become.
I think everybody longs to be loved and longs to know that he or she is lovable. And, consequently, the greatest thing that we can do is to help somebody know that they're loved and capable of loving.
I like to compare the holiday season with the way a child listens to a favorite story. The pleasure is in the familiar way the story begins, the anticipation of familiar turns it takes, the familiar moments of suspense, and the familiar climax and ending.
Knowing that we can be loved exactly as we are gives us all the best opportunity for growing into the healthiest of people.
The whole idea is to look at the television camera and present as much love as you possibly could to a person who might feel that he or she needs it.
Human beings need to feel that they are lovable and capable of loving.
I saw this new thing called television, and I saw people throwing pies in each other's faces, and I thought, 'This could be a wonderful tool for education! Why is it being used this way?' So I said to my parents, 'You know, I don't think I'll go into seminary right away. I think I'll go into television.'
You know, you don't have to look like everybody else to be acceptable and to feel acceptable.
How sad it is that we give up on people who are just like us. — © Fred Rogers
How sad it is that we give up on people who are just like us.
All of us have special ones who have loved us into being.
When I was very young, most of my childhood heroes wore capes, flew through the air, or picked up buildings with one arm. They were spectacular and got a lot of attention. But as I grew, my heroes changed, so that now I can honestly say that anyone who does anything to help a child is a hero to me.
The world is not always a kind place. That's something all children learn for themselves, whether we want them to or not, but it's something they really need our help to understand.
I think of discipline as the continual everyday process of helping a child learn self-discipline.
The underlying message of the Neighborhood is that if somebody cares about you, it's possible that you'll care about others. 'You are special, and so is your neighbor' - that part is essential: that you're not the only special person in the world. The person you happen to be with at the moment is loved, too.
One of the most important gifts a parent can give a child is the gift of accepting that child's uniqueness.
When we look for what's best in the person we happen to be with at the moment, we're doing what God does, so in appreciating our neighbor, we're participating in something truly sacred.
If the day ever came when we were able to accept ourselves and our children exactly as we and they are, then, I believe, we would have come very close to an ultimate understanding of what 'good' parenting means.
When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, 'Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.'
Play is often talked about as if it were a relief from serious learning. But for children play is serious learning. Play is really the work of childhood.
The space between the television set and the viewer is holy ground.
Deep and simple are far, far more important than shallow and complicated and fancy.
The more we can be in a relationship with those who might seem strange to us, the more we can feel like we're neighbors and all members of the human family.
When I first saw children's television, I thought it was perfectly horrible. And I thought there was some way of using this fabulous medium to be of nurture to those who would watch and listen.
Children aren't responsible for wars.
Just because somebody wants to be alone sometimes, it doesn't mean they don't love you.
To love someone is to strive to accept that person exactly the way he or she is, right here and now.
It's not the honors and not the titles and not the power that is of ultimate importance. It's what resides inside.
I do think that young children can spot a phony a mile away.
I believe that those of us who are the producers and purveyors of television, I believe that we are the servants of this nation.
Silence is so powerful, so important. There is so much to be learned from it.
When we love a person, we accept him or her exactly as is: the lovely with the unlovely, the strong with the fearful, the true mixed in with the façade, and of course, the only way we can do it is by accepting ourselves that way.
What matters in this life is more than winning for ourselves. What really matters is helping others win too. Even if it means slowing down and changing our course now and then.
There are three ways to ultimate success: The first way is to be kind. The second way is to be kind. The third way is to be kind.
There is something of yourself that you leave at every meeting with another person. — © Fred Rogers
There is something of yourself that you leave at every meeting with another person.
Imagine what our real neighborhoods would be like if each of us offered . . . just one kind word to another person.
Anything that’s human is mentionable, and anything that is mentionable can be more manageable. When we can talk about our feelings, they become less overwhelming, less upsetting, and less scary. The people we trust with that important talk can help us know that we are not alone.
We speak with more than our mouths. We listen with more than our ears.
Who you are inside is what helps you make and do everything in life.
We live in a world in which we need to share responsibility. It's easy to say "It's not my child, not my community, not my world, not my problem." Then there are those who see the need and respond. I consider those people my heroes.
Some days, doing "the best we can" may still fall short of what we would like to be able to do, but life isn't perfect on any front-and doing what we can with what we have is the most we should expect of ourselves or anyone else.
Often when you think you're at the end of something, you're at the beginning of something else.
Real strength has to do with helping others.
Honesty is often very hard. The truth is often painful. But the freedom it can bring is worth the trying.
A love of learning has a lot to do with learning that we are loved. — © Fred Rogers
A love of learning has a lot to do with learning that we are loved.
I recently learned that in an average lifetime a person walks about sixty-five thousand miles. That's two and a half times around the world. I wonder where your steps will take you. I wonder how you'll use the rest of the miles you're given.
The greatest gift that you can give another person is to gracefully receive whatever it is that they want to give us.
I believe that appreciation is a holy thing--that when we look for what's best in a person we happen to be with at the moment, we're doing what God does all the time. So in loving and appreciating our neighbor, we're participating in something sacred.
As human beings, our job in life is to help people realize how rare and valuable each one of us really is, that each of us has something that no one else has-or ever will have-something inside that is unique to all time.
When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, "Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping." To this day, especially in times of "disaster," I remember my mother's words and I am always comforted by realizing that there are still so many helpers – so many caring people in this world.
You make each day a special day. You know how, by just your being you.
All of us have special ones who have loved us into being. Would you just take, along with me, ten seconds to think of the people who have helped you become who you are....Ten seconds of silence.
The purpose of life is to listen - to yourself, to your neighbor, to your world and to God and, when the time comes, to respond in as helpful a way as you can find ... from within and without.
I like you just the way you are.
If you could only sense how important you are to the lives of those you meet; how important you can be to the people you may never even dream of. There is something of yourself that you leave at every meeting with another person.
At the center of the Universe is a loving heart that continues to beat and that wants the best for every person. Anything that we can do to help foster the intellect and spirit and emotional growth of our fellow human beings, that is our job. Those of us who have this particular vision must continue against all odds. Life is for service.
Love begins with listening.
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