Optimism is not in believing that things will turn out well, objectively, But in believing that one can face things, subjectively, however they turn out. – BURTON BLATT
As the power of profession and service system ascend, the legitimacy, authority, and capacity of citizens and communities descend. The citizen retreats. The client advances. – JOHN MCKNIGHT
We need to…not [focus] on control, but trust; not [seek] compliance, but engagement; not [be preoccupied] with external behavior, but moral development; not [impose] change on others, but on ourselves. – JOHN MCGEE
In the cause for humanity, we must all agree that All men are human beings All human beings are valuable. And all the rest is commentary – BURTON BLATT
Human service professionals with special expertise, techniques, and technology push out the problem-solving knowledge and action of friend, neighbor, citizen, and association. – JOHN MCKNIGHT
[A culture of life] starts with our own gentleness, our acceptance of nonviolence, our constant questioning of our own beliefs and actions, our ability to teach companionship…, and then to build communities of caring.” – JOHN MCGEE
Why have I told you these appalling vignettes of past institutional life? Because the system that created these dehumanizing arrangements is still with us today. – GUNNAR DYBWAD
To live with our retarded children, our handicapped friends, our aging parents does place burdens on us…[T]hese are burdens which cannot be avoided or delegated: to have a decent society we must behave as decent individuals. – BURTON BLATT
The bottom fell out of human service morality in any number of ways when medicine unequivocally abandoned its moral, philosophical, and theological background. – WOLF WOLFENSBERGER
