Temple Grandin quotes

Temple Grandin is an American professor of animal science, inventor, and prominent advocate for autism awareness. Her innovative designs for livestock handling have transformed animal welfare practices worldwide. She has inspired many by sharing her personal experiences with autism and promoting neurodiversity. Here are 146 of her quotes:

I don't want my thoughts to die with me, I want to have done something. I'm not interested in power, or piles of money. I want to leave something behind. I want to make a positive contribution - know that my life has meaning.

Temple Grandin

And while we are on the subject of medication you always need to look at risk versus benefit.

Temple Grandin

If by some magic, autism had been eradicated from the face of the Earth, then men would still be socializing in front of a wood fire at the entrance to a cave.

Temple Grandin

It's OK to be an eccentric; it's not OK to be a rude and dirty eccentric.

Temple Grandin

I think using animals for food is an ethical thing to do, but we've got to do it right. We've got to give those animals a decent life and we've got to give them a painless death. We owe the animal respect.

Temple Grandin

I get satisfaction out of seeing stuff that makes real change in the real world. We need a lot more of that and a lot less abstract stuff.

Temple Grandin

No, I played around with vegetarianism back in the ‘70s. One thing, my physiology just got to have animal protein. I get hypoglycemic, I get all light-headed unless I eat animal protein.

Temple Grandin

You simply cannot tell other people they are stupid, even if they really are stupid.

Temple Grandin

I believe there is a reason such as autism, severe manic-depression, and schizophrenia remain in our gene pool even though there is much suffering as a result.

Temple Grandin

Unfortunately, most people never observe the natural cycle of birth and death. They do not realize that for one living thing to survive, another living thing must die.

Temple Grandin

Let's get into talking about how autism is similar animal behavior. The thing is I don't think in a language, and animals don't think in a language. It's sensory based thinking, thinking in pictures, thinking in smells, thinking in touches. It's putting these sensory based memories into categories.

Temple Grandin

I cannot emphasize enough the importance of a good teacher.

Temple Grandin

People are always looking for the single magic bullet that will totally change everything. There is no single magic bullet.

Temple Grandin

I can remember the frustration of not being able to talk. I knew what I wanted to say, but I could not get the words out, so I would just scream.

Temple Grandin

Autism is an extremely variable disorder.

Temple Grandin

My grandfather was an engineer who invented the automatic pilot for airplanes.

Temple Grandin

Autism is a neurological disorder. It's not caused by bad parenting. It's caused by, you know, abnormal development in the brain. The emotional circuits in the brain are abnormal. And there also are differences in the white matter, which is the brain's computer cables that hook up the different brain departments.

Temple Grandin

I like to figure things out and solve problems.

Temple Grandin

Children between the ages of five to ten years are even more variable. They are going to vary from very high functioning, capable of doing normal school work, to nonverbal who have all kinds of neurological problems.

Temple Grandin

My life is basically my work.

Temple Grandin

I am also a believer in an integrated treatment approach to autism.

Temple Grandin

I use my mind to solve problems and invent things.

Temple Grandin