Top 160 Carol S. Dweck Quotes (2025 Update)
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51. “NASA thought so. When they were soliciting applications for astronauts, they rejected people with pure histories of success and instead selected people who had had significant failures and bounced back from them.”

— Carol S. Dweck

52. “An assessment at one point in time has little value for understanding someone’s ability, let alone their potential to succeed in the future.”

— Carol S. Dweck

53. “Tout comprendre c’est tout pardonner.”

— Carol S. Dweck

54. “When people believe their basic qualities can be developed, failures may still hurt, but failures don’t define them. And if abilities can be expanded – if change and growth are possible – then there are still many paths to success.”

— Carol S. Dweck

55. “People with the growth mindset, however, believe something very different. For them, even geniuses have to work hard for their achievements. And what’s so heroic, they would say, about having a gift? They may appreciate endowment, but they admire effort, for no matter what your ability is, effort is what ignites that ability and turns it into accomplishment.”

— Carol S. Dweck

56. “Real self-confidence is not reflected in a title, an expensive suit, a fancy car, or a series of acquisitions. It is reflected in your mindset: your readiness to grow.”

— Carol S. Dweck

57. “Mindsets are just beliefs. They’re powerful beliefs, but they’re just something in your mind, and you can change your mind.”

— Carol S. Dweck

58. “The more depressed people with the growth mindset felt, the more they took action to confront their problems, the more they made sure to keep up with their schoolwork, and the more they kept up with their lives. The worse they felt, the more determined they became!”

— Carol S. Dweck

59. “Create an organization that prizes the development of ability – and watch the leaders emerge.”

— Carol S. Dweck

60. “We as educators must take seriously our responsibility to create growth-mindset-friendly environments – where kids feel safe from judgement, where they understand that we believe in their potential to grow, and where they know that we are totally dedicated to collaborating with them on their learning. We are in the business of helping kids thrive, not finding reasons why they can’t.”

— Carol S. Dweck

61. “People with a fixed mindset were only interested when the feedback reflected on their ability. Their brain waves showed them paying close attention when they were told whether their answers were right or wrong.”

— Carol S. Dweck

62. “Research shows that normal young children misbehave every three minutes.”

— Carol S. Dweck

63. “If you’re somebody when you’re successful, what are you when you’re unsuccessful?”

— Carol S. Dweck

64. “Success is about being your best self, not about being better than others; failure is an opportunity, not a condemnation; effort is the key to success.”

— Carol S. Dweck

65. “This is something I know for a fact: You have to work hardest for the things you love most.”

— Carol S. Dweck

66. “The great teachers believe in the growth of the intellect and talent, and they are fascinated with the process of learning.”

— Carol S. Dweck

67. “Think of times other people outdid you and you just assumed that they were smarter or more talented. Now consider the idea that they just used better strategies, taught themselves more, practiced harder, and worked their way through obstacles. You can do that too, if you want to.”

— Carol S. Dweck

68. “Your horse is only as fast as your brain. Every time you learn something, your horse will move ahead.”

— Carol S. Dweck

69. “Praise should deal, not with the child’s personality attributes, but with his efforts and achievements.”

— Carol S. Dweck

70. “In one world, failure is about having a setback. Getting a bad grade. Losing a tournament. Getting fired. Getting rejected. It means you’re not smart or talented. In the other world, failure is about not growing. Not reaching for the things you value. It means you’re not fulfilling your potential.”

— Carol S. Dweck

71. “What did you learn today?” “What mistake did you make that taught you something?” “What did you try hard at today?” You go around the table with each question, excitedly discussing your own and one another’s effort, strategies, setbacks, and learning.”

— Carol S. Dweck

72. “Groupthink can also happen when a fixed-mindset leader punishes dissent. People may not stop thinking critically, but they stop speaking up.”

— Carol S. Dweck

73. “On the whole, people with a fixed mindset prefer effortless success, since that’s the best way to prove their talent.”

— Carol S. Dweck

74. “The effort kids simply thought the difficulty meant “Apply more effort or try new strategies.” They didn’t see it as a failure, and they didn’t think it reflected on their intellect.”

— Carol S. Dweck

75. “We also know that there is a mindset that helps people cope well with setbacks, points them to good strategies, and leads them to act in their best interest.”

— Carol S. Dweck

76. “They’d had no interest in proving themselves. They just did what they loved – with tremendous drive and enthusiasm – and it led where it led.”

— Carol S. Dweck

77. “We don’t care about who you are, what you’re interested in, and what you can become. We don’t care about learning. We will love and respect you only if you go to Harvard.”

— Carol S. Dweck

78. “What are the consequences of thinking that your intelligence or personality is something you can develop, as opposed to something that is a fixed, deep-seated trait? Let’s first look in on the age-old, fiercely waged debate about human nature and then return to the question of what these beliefs mean for you.”

— Carol S. Dweck

79. “Believing that your qualities are carved in stone – the fixed mindset – creates an urgency to prove yourself over and over. If you have only a certain amount of intelligence, a certain personality, and a certain moral character – well, then you’d better prove that you have a healthy dose of them. It simply wouldn’t do to look or feel deficient in these most basic characteristics.”

— Carol S. Dweck

80. “For thirty years, my research has shown that the view you adopt for yourself profoundly affects the way you lead your life. It can determine whether you become the person you want to be and whether you accomplish the things you value. How does this happen? How can a simple belief have the power to transform your psychology and, as a result, your life?”

— Carol S. Dweck

81. “But isn’t potential someone’s capacity to develop their skills with effort over time? And that’s just the point. How can we know where effort and time will take someone? Who.”

— Carol S. Dweck

82. “As growth-minded leaders, they start with a belief in human potential and development – both their own and other people’s. Instead of using the company as a vehicle for their greatness, they use it as an engine of growth – for themselves, the employees, and the company as a whole.”

— Carol S. Dweck

83. “All of these people had character. None of them thought they were special people, born with the right to win. They were people who worked hard, who learned how to keep their focus under pressure, and who stretched beyond their ordinary abilities when they had to.”

— Carol S. Dweck

84. “Beware of success. It can knock you into a fixed mindset: “I won because I have talent. Therefore I will keep winning.” Success can infect a team or it can infect an individual.”

— Carol S. Dweck

85. “There’s another mindset in which these traits are not simply a hand you’re dealt and have to live with, always trying to convince yourself and others that you have a royal flush when you’re secretly worried it’s a pair of tens. In this mindset, the hand you’re dealt is just the starting point for development. This growth mindset is based on the belief that your basic qualities are things you can cultivate through your efforts.”

— Carol S. Dweck

86. “They love to learn. And teaching is a wonderful way to learn. About people and how they tick. About what you teach. About yourself. And about life.”

— Carol S. Dweck

87. “People may start with different temperaments and different aptitudes, but it is clear that experience, training, and personal effort take them the rest of the way.”

— Carol S. Dweck

88. “In one world, failure is about having a setback. Getting a bad grade. Losing a tournament. Getting fired. Getting rejected. It means you’re not smart or talented. In the other world, failure is about not growing. Not reaching for the things you value. It means you’re not fulfilling your potential. In one world, effort is a bad thing. It, like failure, means you’re not smart or talented. If you were, you wouldn’t need effort. In the other world, effort is what makes you smart or talented.”

— Carol S. Dweck

89. “John Wooden, the legendary basketball coach, says you aren’t a failure until you start to blame. What he means is that you can still be in the process of learning from your mistakes until you deny them.”

— Carol S. Dweck

90. “They were self-effacing people who constantly asked questions and had the ability to confront the most brutal answers – that is, to look failures in the face, even their own, while maintaining faith that they would succeed in the end.”

— Carol S. Dweck

91. “Now consider the idea that they just used better strategies, taught themselves more, practiced harder, and worked their way through obstacles. You can do that, too, if you want to.”

— Carol S. Dweck

92. “It’s the parents who respond to their children’s setbacks with interest and treat them as opportunities for learning who are transmitting a growth mindset to their children. These parents think setbacks are good things that should be embraced, and that setbacks should be used as a platform for learning. They address the setback head-on and talk to their children about the next steps for learning.”

— Carol S. Dweck

93. “Yes, he was depressed, but he was coping the way people in the growth mindset tend to cope – with determination.”

— Carol S. Dweck

94. “Instead, they are constantly trying to improve. They surround themselves with the most able people they can find, they look squarely at their own mistakes and deficiencies, and they ask frankly what skills they and the company will need in the future.”

— Carol S. Dweck

95. “There is a French expression: “Tout comprendre c’est tout pardonner.” To understand all is to forgive all.”

— Carol S. Dweck

96. “Are there situations where you get stupid – where you disengage your intelligence? Next time you’re in one of those situations, get yourself into a growth mindset – think about learning and improvement, not judgment – and hook it back up.”

— Carol S. Dweck

97. “This low-effort syndrome is often seen as a way that adolescents assert their independence from adults, but it is also a way that students with the fixed mindset protect themselves. They view the adults as saying, “Now we will measure you and see what you’ve got.” And they are answering, “No you won’t.” John Holt, the great educator, says that these are the games all human beings play when others are sitting in judgment of them.”

— Carol S. Dweck

98. “The students with growth mindset completely took charge of their learning and motivation.”

— Carol S. Dweck

99. “Is there something in your past that you think measured you? A.”

— Carol S. Dweck

100. “The idea of trying and still failing – of leaving yourself without excuses – is the worst fear within the fixed mindset, and it haunted and paralyzed her. She had even stopped bringing her violin to her lesson!”

— Carol S. Dweck