---
title: "1 Parenthood Relationship Quotes By Gabor Maté"
description: "1 Parenthood Relationship quotes by Gabor Maté. Plus more from Gabor Maté and more Parenthood Relationship sayings from other authors."
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fae/gabor-mat-1410_child_when-we-focus-narrowly-on-what-we-should_1412452.png"
---

> [“When we focus narrowly on what we should be doing, we become blind to our attachment relationship with our children and its inadequacies. Parenthood is above all a relationship, not a skill to be acquired. Attachment is not a behavior…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gabor-mat/when-we-focus-narrowly-on-what-we-should-be-doing-we-become-blind-to/)

[Gabor Maté](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gabor-mat/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fae/gabor-mat-1410_child_when-we-focus-narrowly-on-what-we-should_1412452.png)

## More by Gabor Maté

> [“As parents who make every effort we can to raise our children in loving security, we do not need to feel more guilt than…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gabor-mat/as-parents-who-make-every-effort-we-can-to-raise-our-children-in/)

[Gabor Maté](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gabor-mat/)

> [“The fact is, we in this society are often quite removed from our own emotional reality.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gabor-mat/the-fact-is-we-in-this-society-are-often-quite-removed-from-our-own/)

[Gabor Maté](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gabor-mat/)

> [“Shame is the deepest of the “negative emotions,” a feeling we will do almost anything to avoid. Unfortunately, our abiding fear of shame impairs…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gabor-mat/shame-is-the-deepest-of-the-negative-emotions-a-feeling-we-will-do/)

[Gabor Maté](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gabor-mat/)

> [“Many adults have not attained maturity — have not mastered being independent, self-motivated individuals capable of tending their own emotional needs and of respecting…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gabor-mat/many-adults-have-not-attained-maturity-have-not-mastered-being/)

[Gabor Maté](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gabor-mat/)

> [Autonomy is impossible as long as one is driven by anything.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gabor-mat/autonomy-is-impossible-as-long-as-one-is-driven-by-anything/)

[Gabor Mate](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gabor-mat/)

> [“If a mother has eight children, there are eight mothers. This is not simply because of the fact that the mother was different in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gabor-mat/if-a-mother-has-eight-children-there-are-eight-mothers-this-is-not/)

[Gabor Maté](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gabor-mat/)

> [“Without attachment, the parent succeeds at most in cowing a child into obedience, at the price of grave damage to the relationship and to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gabor-mat/without-attachment-the-parent-succeeds-at-most-in-cowing-a-child-into/)

[Gabor Maté](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gabor-mat/)

> [“Attachment is our connection with the world. In the earliest attachment relationships, we gain or lose the ability to stay open, self-nurturing and healthy.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gabor-mat/attachment-is-our-connection-with-the-world-in-the-earliest/)

[Gabor Maté](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gabor-mat/)

> [“So what you've actually got is traumatized children. When children are traumatized that affects how they feel about themselves, which is deeply ashamed because…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gabor-mat/so-what-you-ve-actually-got-is-traumatized-children-when-children-are/)

[Gabor Maté](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gabor-mat/)

> [“Even without world wars, revolutions and emigration, siblings growing up in the same home almost never share the same environment. More accurately, brothers and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gabor-mat/even-without-world-wars-revolutions-and-emigration-siblings-growing/)

[Gabor Maté](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gabor-mat/)

> [“We think that there are people who are normal over here, and then there’s the pathological ones who have depression, anxiety, addiction or schizophrenia…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gabor-mat/we-think-that-there-are-people-who-are-normal-over-here-and-then/)

[Gabor Maté](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gabor-mat/)

> [“One cannot get much more vulnerable than to expose oneself psychologically. To share oneself with another and then be misunderstood or rejected is, for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gabor-mat/one-cannot-get-much-more-vulnerable-than-to-expose-oneself/)

[Gabor Maté](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gabor-mat/)

> [“The areas of the cortex responsible for attention and self-regulation develop in response to the emotional interaction with the person whom we may call…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gabor-mat/the-areas-of-the-cortex-responsible-for-attention-and-self-regulation/)

[Gabor Maté](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gabor-mat/)

> [“Peer-oriented children live in a universe of severely limited and superficial attachments. The quest for sameness being the least vulnerable way of attaching, it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gabor-mat/peer-oriented-children-live-in-a-universe-of-severely-limited-and/)

[Gabor Maté](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gabor-mat/)

> [“The United States contains less than 5 percent of the world’s population but houses nearly a quarter of the world’s prisoners.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gabor-mat/the-united-states-contains-less-than-5-percent-of-the-world-s/)

[Gabor Maté](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gabor-mat/)

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