Carol S. Dweck Quotes

Character, the sportswriters said. They know it when they see it — it’s the ability to dig down and find the strength even when things are going against you.

The idea of trying and still failing — of leaving yourself without excuses — is the worst fear within the fixed mindset, and it haunted and paralyzed her. She had even stopped bringing her violin to her lesson!

When people with the fixed mindset opt for success over growth, what are they really trying to prove? That they’re special. Even superior.

When Do You Feel Smart: When You’re Flawless or When You’re Learning?

They’d had no interest in proving themselves. They just did what they loved — with tremendous drive and enthusiasm — and it led where it led.

John Wooden, the legendary basketball coach, says you aren’t a failure until you start to blame.

there’s only a razor’s edge between self-confidence and hubris.

I’ve noticed and interesting thing. When some star players are interviewed after a game, they say we, they are part of the team and they think of themselves that way. When others are interviewed, they say I and they refer to their teammates as something apart from themselves - as people who are privileged to participate in their greatness.

studies show that people are terrible at estimating their abilities. Recently, we set out to see who is most likely to do this. Sure, we found that people greatly misestimated their performance and their ability. But it was those with the fixed mindset who accounted for almost all the inaccuracy. The people with the growth mindset were amazingly accurate. When you think about it, this makes sense. If, like those with the growth mindset, you believe you can develop yourself, then you’re open to accurate information about your current abilities, even if it’s unflattering.

a fixed ability that needs to be proven, and a changeable ability that can be developed through learning.

Performance cannot be based on one assessment. You cannot determine the slope of a line given only one point, as there is no line to begin with. A single point in time does not show trends, improvement, lack of effort, or mathematical ability.… Sincerely,

Why hide deficiencies instead of overcoming them?

when you teach children to measure themselves from their success, they then measure themselves from their failure as well.

When people believe their basic qualities can be developed, failures may still hurt, but failures don’t define them. And if abilities can be expanded — if change and growth are possible — then there are still many paths to success.

Before we judge, let's remember that effort isn't quite everything and that all effort is not created equal.