--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: One cannot attend to oneself, take care…" description: "\"One cannot attend to oneself, take care of oneself, without a relationship to another person.\" — Michel Foucault" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/63b/michel-foucault-1134_care_one-cannot-attend-to-oneself-take-care-o_893781.jpg" --- # One cannot attend to oneself, take care of oneself… ![“One cannot attend to oneself, take care of oneself, without a relationship to another person.” quote by Michel Foucault](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/63b/michel-foucault-1134_care_one-cannot-attend-to-oneself-take-care-o_893781.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/63b/michel-foucault-1134_care_one-cannot-attend-to-oneself-take-care-o_893781.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/63b/michel-foucault-1134_care_one-cannot-attend-to-oneself-take-care-o_893781.jpg) > “One cannot attend to oneself, take care of oneself, without a relationship to another person.” [Michel Foucault](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-foucault/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Self‑care depends on relational bonds; we cannot fully nurture ourselves in isolation. **In simple terms:** We need others to truly care for ourselves. Key Takeaway Cultivate supportive relationships. Themes self‑care relationships interdependence Mood reflective thoughtful Type philosophical psychological When to use this quote - therapy - friendship - family dynamics - community building Key Concepts existentialism social theory Questions to Reflect On - How do your relationships influence your self‑care habits? - What boundaries protect healthy interdependence? A Different Perspective Self‑care may be hindered when relationships are toxic or absent. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Care](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/care/) ## Related quotes > [I believe that love is the main key to open the doors to the "growth" of man. Love and union with someone or something…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erich-fromm/i-believe-that-love-is-the-main-key-to-open-the-doors-to-the-growth/) [Erich Fromm](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erich-fromm/) > [The relationship to one's fellow man is the relationship of prayer, the relationship to oneself is the relationship of striving; it is from prayer…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/franz-kafka/the-relationship-to-one-s-fellow-man-is-the-relationship-of-prayer/) [Franz Kafka](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/franz-kafka/) > [One must learn to care for oneself first, so that one can then dare to care for someone else.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maya-angelou/one-must-learn-to-care-for-oneself-first-so-that-one-can-then-dare-to/) [Maya Angelou](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maya-angelou/) > [In art one is concerned with the condition of the spirit for three quarters of the time; one must therefore care for oneself if…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-gauguin/in-art-one-is-concerned-with-the-condition-of-the-spirit-for-three/) [Paul Gauguin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-gauguin/) > [“Love is taking care of oneself by freeing one's mind of worries and conducting one self with propriety.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/love-is-taking-care-of-oneself-by-freeing-one-s-mind-of-worries-and/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [During the years 1945-1965 (I am referring to Europe), there was a certain way of thinking correctly, a certain style of politicaldiscourse, a certain…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-foucault/during-the-years-1945-1965-i-am-referring-to-europe-there-was-a/) [Michel Foucault](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-foucault/) > [Being in a relationship with the person you love isn't enough. It's enough when both of you are happy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christi-love/being-in-a-relationship-with-the-person-you-love-isn-t-enough-it-s/) [Christi Love](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christi-love/) > [“In any relationship each person should support the other; they should lift the other up.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/taylor-swift/in-any-relationship-each-person-should-support-the-other-they-should/) [Taylor Swift](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/taylor-swift/) > [“Having someone's contact doesn't guarantee you a relationship with the person.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bernard-kelvin-clive/having-someone-s-contact-doesn-t-guarantee-you-a-relationship-with/) [Bernard Kelvin Clive](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bernard-kelvin-clive/) > [It's will always be hard to watch someone you love, have a Incredible relationship with a person who does not care for them as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/yolo-quotes/it-s-will-always-be-hard-to-watch-someone-you-love-have-a-incredible/) Yolo\_Quotes > [Sooner or later, we must all accept the fact that in a relationship, the only person you are dealing with is yourself.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/iyanla-vanzant/sooner-or-later-we-must-all-accept-the-fact-that-in-a-relationship/) [Iyanla Vanzant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/iyanla-vanzant/) > [The best thing that can happen in a relationship is when you are the same person you were before the relationship started. You are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/greg-behrendt/the-best-thing-that-can-happen-in-a-relationship-is-when-you-are-the/) [Greg Behrendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/greg-behrendt/) > [In every relationship, the person least interested in maintaining it is going to dominate it, because they'll never compromise.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/in-every-relationship-the-person-least-interested-in-maintaining-it/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“When you enter your next relationship, you become the person you split up with.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gina-barreca/when-you-enter-your-next-relationship-you-become-the-person-you-split/) [Gina Barreca](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gina-barreca/) > [When adults come together to form an intimate relationship, each person releases into it unresolved issues from their trans-generational pool of unconscious fantasies. Partners…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-raphael-leff/when-adults-come-together-to-form-an-intimate-relationship-each/) [Joan Raphael-Leff](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-raphael-leff/) ## More by Michel Foucault > [One should try to locate power at the extreme of its exercise, where it is always less legal in character.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-foucault/one-should-try-to-locate-power-at-the-extreme-of-its-exercise-where/) [Michel Foucault](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-foucault/) > [The book is not simply the object that one holds in one's hands, and it cannot remain within the little parallelpiped that contains it:…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-foucault/the-book-is-not-simply-the-object-that-one-holds-in-one-s-hands-and/) [Michel Foucault](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-foucault/) > [“But a punishment like forced labour or even imprisonment – mere loss of liberty – has never functioned without a certain additional element of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-foucault/but-a-punishment-like-forced-labour-or-even-imprisonment-mere-loss-of/) [Michel Foucault](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-foucault/) > [Death left its old tragic heaven and became the lyrical core of man: his invisible truth, his visible secret.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-foucault/death-left-its-old-tragic-heaven-and-became-the-lyrical-core-of-man/) [Michel Foucault](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-foucault/) > [I'm no prophet. My job is making windows where there were once walls.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-foucault/i-m-no-prophet-my-job-is-making-windows-where-there-were-once-walls/) [Michel Foucault](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-foucault/) > [Let us ask... how things work at the level of on-going subjugation, at the level of those continuous and uninterrupted processes which subject our…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-foucault/let-us-ask-how-things-work-at-the-level-of-on-going-subjugation-at/) [Michel Foucault](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-foucault/) > [What makes power hold good, what makes it accepted, is simply the fact that it doesn't only weigh on us as a force that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-foucault/what-makes-power-hold-good-what-makes-it-accepted-is-simply-the-fact/) [Michel Foucault](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-foucault/) > [“It was a matter of showing by what conjunctions a whole set of practices-- from the moment they became coordinated with a regime of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-foucault/it-was-a-matter-of-showing-by-what-conjunctions-a-whole-set-of/) [Michel Foucault](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-foucault/) > [“The preferred medications were those that forestalled corruption. We know 'as a result of more than three thousand years of experience that Myrrh and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-foucault/the-preferred-medications-were-those-that-forestalled-corruption-we/) [Michel Foucault](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-foucault/) > [“The man described for us, whom we are invited to free, is already in himself the effect of a subjection much more profound than…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-foucault/the-man-described-for-us-whom-we-are-invited-to-free-is-already-in/) [Michel Foucault](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-foucault/) > [“Confined on the ship, from which there is no escape, the madman is delivered to the river with its thousand arms, the sea with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-foucault/confined-on-the-ship-from-which-there-is-no-escape-the-madman-is/) [Michel Foucault](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-foucault/) > [Believe what is productive is not sedentary but nomadic.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-foucault/believe-what-is-productive-is-not-sedentary-but-nomadic/) [Michel Foucault](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-foucault/) > [Are the prisons overpopulated, or is the population over-imprisoned ?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-foucault/are-the-prisons-overpopulated-or-is-the-population-over-imprisoned/) [Michel Foucault](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-foucault/) > [An American professor complained that a crypto-Marxist like me was invited in the USA, and I was denounced by the press in Eastern European…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-foucault/an-american-professor-complained-that-a-crypto-marxist-like-me-was/) [Michel Foucault](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-foucault/) > [Withdraw allegiance from the old categories of the Negative (law, limit, castration, lack, lacuna), which the Western thought has so long held sacred as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-foucault/withdraw-allegiance-from-the-old-categories-of-the-negative-law-limit/) [Michel Foucault](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-foucault/) [Explore all 272 Michel Foucault quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-foucault/) ## More Care quotes > [I think, here's what I've realized from interviewing people, and I've been very open about my Catholicism and my love of Christ and I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jay-mohr/i-think-here-s-what-i-ve-realized-from-interviewing-people-and-i-ve/) [Jay Mohr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jay-mohr/) > [We all know what it feels like to love someone and care about them and want to protect them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kiana-madeira/we-all-know-what-it-feels-like-to-love-someone-and-care-about-them/) [Kiana Madeira](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kiana-madeira/) > [Young men, especially in America, write to me and ask me to recommend “a course of reading.” Distrust a course of reading! People who…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-lang/young-men-especially-in-america-write-to-me-and-ask-me-to-recommend-a/) [Andrew Lang](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-lang/) > [I certainly do care for you Jeff Campbell less than you are always thinking and much more than you are ever knowing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gertrude-stein/i-certainly-do-care-for-you-jeff-campbell-less-than-you-are-always/) [Gertrude Stein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gertrude-stein/) > [Advances in technology will continue to reach far into every sector of our economy. Future job and economic growth in industry, defense, transportation, agriculture,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christopher-bond/advances-in-technology-will-continue-to-reach-far-into-every-sector/) [Christopher Bond](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christopher-bond/) > [As a child, I had a lot of older gay men taking care of me. There's a trust there. I feel like little girls…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-cho/as-a-child-i-had-a-lot-of-older-gay-men-taking-care-of-me-there-s-a/) [Margaret Cho](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-cho/) > [I believe in taxation and health care that is outside the usual libertarian mandate, because I don't want people to have to suffer. It's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neil-peart/i-believe-in-taxation-and-health-care-that-is-outside-the-usual/) [Neil Peart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neil-peart/) > [The biggest change for me as a mom was realizing I needed to put someone else before me. Now the hardest part about the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kim-alexis/the-biggest-change-for-me-as-a-mom-was-realizing-i-needed-to-put/) [Kim Alexis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kim-alexis/) > [What makes you care about nature, about the planet? Is it really that you're afraid of what's going to happen if you don't take…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-eisenstein/what-makes-you-care-about-nature-about-the-planet-is-it-really-that/) [Charles Eisenstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-eisenstein/) > [You feed yourself. Make sure you have all the information, whether it's aesthetic, scientific, mathematical, I don't care what it is. Then you walk…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ray-bradbury/you-feed-yourself-make-sure-you-have-all-the-information-whether-it-s/) [Ray Bradbury](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ray-bradbury/) > [When you're in your twenties and starting out, the problem is that you care about being cool. Being older, I can care less about…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-righton/when-you-re-in-your-twenties-and-starting-out-the-problem-is-that-you/) [James Righton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-righton/) > [When will society, like a mother, take care of all her children?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/horace-mann/when-will-society-like-a-mother-take-care-of-all-her-children/) [Horace Mann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/horace-mann/) > [I don't care if you make a print on a bath mat, just as long as it is a good print.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-weston/i-don-t-care-if-you-make-a-print-on-a-bath-mat-just-as-long-as-it-is/) [Edward Weston](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-weston/) > [The world's problems are, by and large, human problems-the unavoidable consequence of egoic sleepwalking. If we care to look, all the signs are present…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adyashanti/the-world-s-problems-are-by-and-large-human-problems-the-unavoidable/) [Adyashanti](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adyashanti/) > [There are a lot of kids out there copying and distributing movies - not because they care about seeing the movies or sharing them…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-perry-barlow/there-are-a-lot-of-kids-out-there-copying-and-distributing-movies-not/) [John Perry Barlow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-perry-barlow/) [Browse all 19,019 Care quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/care/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "One cannot attend to oneself, take care of oneself, without a relationship to another person.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Michel Foucault" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-foucault/one-cannot-attend-to-oneself-take-care-of-oneself-without-a/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Care" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-foucault/one-cannot-attend-to-oneself-take-care-of-oneself-without-a/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/63b/michel-foucault-1134_care_one-cannot-attend-to-oneself-take-care-o_893781.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/63b/michel-foucault-1134_care_one-cannot-attend-to-oneself-take-care-o_893781.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/63b/michel-foucault-1134_care_one-cannot-attend-to-oneself-take-care-o_893781.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“One cannot attend to oneself, take care of oneself, without a relationship to another person.” — Michel Foucault", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Michel Foucault", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-foucault/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "One cannot attend to oneself, take...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-foucault/one-cannot-attend-to-oneself-take-care-of-oneself-without-a/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-foucault/one-cannot-attend-to-oneself-take-care-of-oneself-without-a/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```