Fred Rogers quotes

Fred Rogers was an American television host, producer, and Presbyterian minister, widely known for creating the children's show "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood." His gentle approach and messages of kindness influenced generations of viewers. He became a beloved cultural icon who advocated for compassion and understanding. Here are 33 of his quotes:

Fame is a four-letter word; and like tape or zoom or face or pain or life or love, what ultimately matters is what we do with it.

Fred Rogers

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.

Fred Rogers

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.

Fred Rogers

This is what I give. I give an expression of care every day to each child, to help him realize that he is unique. I end each program by saying, 'You've made this day a special day by just your being you. There's no person in the whole world like you. And I like you just the way you are.' And I feel that if we in public television can only make it clear that feelings are mentionable and manageable, we will have done a great service.

Fred Rogers

Our world hangs like a magnificent jewel in the vastness of space. Every one of us is a part of that jewel. A facet of that jewel. And in the perspective of infinity, our differences are infinitesimal.

Fred Rogers

It's not the honors and the prizes and the fancy outsides of life which ultimately nourish our souls. It's the knowing that we can be trusted, that we never have to fear the truth, that the bedrock of our very being is good stuff.

Fred Rogers

It's our insides that make us who we are, that allow us to dream and wonder and feel for others. That's what's essential. That's what will always make the biggest difference in our world.

Fred Rogers

Very frankly, I am opposed to people being programmed by others. My whole approach in broadcasting has always been 'You are an important person just the way you are. You can make healthy decisions.' Maybe I'm going on too long, but I just feel that anything that allows a person to be more active in the control of his or her life, in a healthy way, is important.

Fred Rogers

Vermont is a small state which makes an enormous difference.

Fred Rogers

Little by little we human beings are confronted with situations that give us more and more clues that we aren't perfect.

Fred Rogers

Children are to be respected and I respect them deeply. They've taught me an awful lot.

Fred Rogers

Both Joanne and I can recall many times when we wish we'd said or done something different. But we didn't, and we've learned not to feel too guilty about that. What gives me my good feelings is that we always cared and always tried to do our best.

Fred Rogers

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.

Fred Rogers

You know, you don't have to look like everybody else to be acceptable and to feel acceptable.

Fred Rogers

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.

Fred Rogers

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.

Fred Rogers

I think of discipline as the continual everyday process of helping a child learn self-discipline.

Fred Rogers

Well, what is essential about you? And who are those who have helped you become the person that you are? Anyone who has ever graduated from a college, anyone who has ever been able to sustain a good work, has had at least one person and often many who have believed in him or her. We just don't get to be competent human beings without a lot of different investments from others.

Fred Rogers

What do you think it is that drives people to want far more than they could ever use or need? I frankly think it's insecurity. How do we let the world know that the trappings of this life are not the things that are ultimately important for being accepted?

Fred Rogers

Yes, when I was here the first word of the alma mater was 'Men...Men of Dartmouth, give a rouse...' Well, now the first word is 'Dear.' Some things change for the better.

Fred Rogers

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.'

Fred Rogers

Justice is taking care of those who aren't able to take care of themselves.

Fred Rogers