Top 160 Carol S. Dweck Quotes (2024 Update)
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101. “When I was a young researcher, just starting out, something happened that changed my life. I was obsessed with understanding how people cope with failures, and I decided to study it by watching how students grapple with hard problems.”

— Carol S. Dweck

102. “People with the growth mindset hoped for a different kind of partner. They said their ideal mate was someone who would: See their faults and help them to work on them. Challenge them to become a better person.”

— Carol S. Dweck

103. “Howard Gardner, in his book Extraordinary Minds, concluded that exceptional individuals have “a special talent for identifying their own strengths and weaknesses.”

— Carol S. Dweck

104. “Why hide deficiencies instead of overcoming them?”

— Carol S. Dweck

105. “When people are in a growth mindset, the stereotype doesn’t disrupt their performance. The growth mindset takes the teeth out of the stereotype and makes people better able to fight back. They don’t believe in permanent inferiority. And if they are behind – well, then they’ll work harder and try to catch up.”

— Carol S. Dweck

106. “In fact, every word and action can send a message. It tells children – or students, or athletes – how to think about themselves. It can be a fixed-mindset message that says: You have permanent traits and I’m judging them. Or it can be a growth-mindset message that says: You are a developing person and I am interested in your development.”

— Carol S. Dweck

107. “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?”

— Carol S. Dweck

108. “So in the fixed mindset, both positive and negative labels can mess with your mind. When you’re given a positive label, you’re afraid of losing it, and when you’re hit with a negative label, you’re afraid of deserving it.”

— Carol S. Dweck

109. “A no-effort relationship is a doomed relationship, not a great relationship. It takes work to communicate accurately and it takes work to expose and resolve conflicting hopes and beliefs. It doesn’t mean there is no “they lived happily ever after,” but it’s more like “they worked happily ever after.”

— Carol S. Dweck

110. “I said to David, “You know, in France, when they’re nice to you, you feel like you’ve passed a test. But in Italy, there is no test.”

— Carol S. Dweck

111. “Next time you’re tempted to surround yourself with worshipers, go to church. In the rest of your life, seek constructive criticism.”

— Carol S. Dweck

112. “What allowed me to take that first step, to choose growth and risk rejection? In the fixed mindset, I had needed my blame and bitterness. It made me feel more righteous, powerful, and whole than thinking I was at fault. The growth mindset allowed me to give up the blame and move on. The growth mindset gave me a mother.”

— Carol S. Dweck

113. “Edison was not a loner. For the invention of the lightbulb, he had thirty assistants, including well-trained scientists, often working around the clock in a corporate-funded state-of-the-art laboratory!”

— Carol S. Dweck

114. “I looked for themes and underlying principles across lectures,” and “I went over mistakes until I was certain I understood them.” They were studying to learn, not just to ace the test. And, actually, this was why they got higher grades – not because they were smarter or had a better background in science.”

— Carol S. Dweck

115. “Is there something you’ve always wanted to do but were afraid you weren’t good at? Make a plan to do it.”

— Carol S. Dweck

116. “We can choose partner, make friends, hire people who make us feel faultless. But think about it – do you never want to grow? Next time you’re tempted to surround yourself with worshippers, go to church.”

— Carol S. Dweck

117. “Malcolm Gladwell, the author and New Yorker writer, has suggested that as a society we value natural, effortless accomplishment over achievement through effort. We endow our heroes with superhuman abilities that led them inevitably toward their greatness.”

— Carol S. Dweck

118. “For twenty years, my research has shown that the view you adopt for yourself profoundly affects the way you lead your life.”

— Carol S. Dweck

119. “Every situation is evaluated: Will I succeed or fail? Will I look smart or dumb? Will I be accepted or rejected? Will I feel like a winner or a loser?”

— Carol S. Dweck

120. “However, this point is crucial: The growth mindset does allow people to love what they’re doing – and to continue to love it in the face of difficulties.”

— Carol S. Dweck

121. “Character, the sportswriters said. They know it when they see it – it’s the ability to dig down and find the strength even when things are going against you.”

— Carol S. Dweck

122. “What did they know? They knew that human qualities, such as intellectual skills, could be cultivated through effort. And that’s what they were doing – getting smarter. Not only weren’t they discouraged by failure, they didn’t even think they were failing. They thought they were learning.”

— Carol S. Dweck

123. “In the fixed mindset, setbacks label you.”

— Carol S. Dweck

124. “In summary, people who believe in fixed traits feel an urgency to succeed, and when they do, they may feel more than pride. They may feel a sense of superiority, since success means that their fixed traits are better than other people’s. However, lurking behind that self-esteem of the fixed mindset is a simple question: If you’re somebody when you’re successful, what are you when you’re unsuccessful?”

— Carol S. Dweck

125. “When Jordan was cut from the varsity team, he was devastated. His mother says, “I told him to go back and discipline himself.”

— Carol S. Dweck

126. “I’ve seen so many people with this one consuming goal of proving themselves – in the classroom, in their careers, and in their relationships. Every situation calls for a confirmation of their intelligence, personality, or character. Every situation is evaluated: Will I succeed or fail? Will I look smart or dumb? Will I be accepted or rejected? Will I feel like a winner or a loser?”

— Carol S. Dweck

127. “To be successful in sports, you need to learn techniques and skills and practice them regularly.”

— Carol S. Dweck

128. “Your failures and misfortunes don’t threaten other people’s self-esteem. Ego-wise, it’s easy to be sympathetic to someone in need. It’s your assets and your successes that are problems for people who derive their self-esteem from being superior.”

— Carol S. Dweck

129. “John Wooden, the legendary basketball coach, says you aren’t a failure until you start to blame.”

— Carol S. Dweck

130. “Another way people with the fixed mindset try to repair their self-esteem after a failure is by assigning blame or making excuses.”

— Carol S. Dweck

131. “Picture your ideal love relationship. Does it involve perfect compatibility – no disagreements, no compromises, no hard work? Please think again. In every relationship, issues arise. Try to see them from a growth mindset: Problems can be a vehicle for developing greater understanding and intimacy. Allow your partner to air his or her differences, listen carefully, and discuss them in a patient and caring manner. You may be surprised.”

— Carol S. Dweck

132. “Before we judge, let’s remember that effort isn’t quite everything and that all effort is not created equal.”

— Carol S. Dweck

133. “Andrew Carnegie once said, “I wish to have as my epitaph: ‘Here lies a man who was wise enough to bring into his service men who knew more than he.”

— Carol S. Dweck

134. “Yet it’s been clear to me for a long time that different students handle depression in dramatically different ways. Some let everything slide. Others, though feeling wretched, hang on. They drag themselves to class, keep up with their work, and take care of themselves – so that when they feel better, their lives are intact.”

— Carol S. Dweck

135. “Some of the world’s best athletes didn’t start out being that hot. If you have a passion for a sport, put in the effort and see.”

— Carol S. Dweck

136. “Many of the most accomplished people of our era were considered by experts to have no future. Jackson Pollock, Marcel Proust, Elvis Presley, Ray Charles, Lucille Ball, and Charles Darwin were all thought to have little potential for their chosen fields.”

— Carol S. Dweck

137. “Not only weren’t they discouraged by failure, they didn’t even think they were failing. They thought they were learning.”

— Carol S. Dweck

138. “However, lurking behind that self-esteem of the fixed mindset is a simple question: If you’re somebody when you’re successful, what are you when you’re unsuccessful?”

— Carol S. Dweck

139. “There were two meanings to ability, not one: a fixed ability that needs to be proven, and a changeable ability that can be developed through learning.”

— Carol S. Dweck

140. “In fact, studies show that people are terrible at estimating their abilities.”

— Carol S. Dweck

141. “Then I told her to change her mindset. “Look,” I said, “it’s not about you. That’s their job. Their job is to find every possible flaw. Your job is to learn from the critique and make your paper even better.” Within hours she was revising her paper, which was warmly accepted. She tells me: “I never felt judged again. Never. Every time I get that critique, I tell myself, ‘Oh, that’s their job,’ and I get to work immediately on my job.”

— Carol S. Dweck

142. “Babe Ruth rose like a rocket.” Through discipline. He also loved to practice.”

— Carol S. Dweck

143. “Actually, people with the fixed mindset expect ability to show up on its own, before any learning takes place.”

— Carol S. Dweck

144. “Mia, what is the most important thing for a soccer player to have?” With no hesitation, she answered, “Mental toughness.”

— Carol S. Dweck

145. “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.”

— Carol S. Dweck

146. “And what’s so heroic, they would say, about having a gift?”

— Carol S. Dweck

147. “There’s an assumption,” he said, “that schools are for students’ learning. Well, why aren’t they just as much for teachers’ learning?”

— Carol S. Dweck

148. “And this is part of the fixed mindset. Effort is for those who don’t have the ability.”

— Carol S. Dweck

149. “They know how to take tests and get A’s but they don’t know how to do this – yet. They forget the yet.”

— Carol S. Dweck

150. “Math and science need to be made more hospitable places for women. And women need all the growth mindset they can get to take their rightful places in these fields.”

— Carol S. Dweck