If you treat an individual as he is, he will remain how he is. But if you treat him as if he were what he ought to be and could be, he will become what he ought to be and could be.

When we treat man as he is, we make him worse than he is; when we treat him as if he already were what he potentially could be, we make him what he should be. — attributed to Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, German writer, physicist, biologist, and artist

Treat people as if they were what they ought to be and you help them to become what they are capable of being.

When we treat man as he is, we make him worse than he is; when we treat him as if he already were what he potentially could be, we make him what he should be.

When we treat man as he is we make him worse than he is.
When we treat him as if he already was what he potentially could be
We make him what he should be.

Treat me as you should treat me, not as I should be treated.

Men should be what they seem.

Don’t treat people as bad as they are. Treat them as good as you are.

To understand a man is really to be that man.

Trust men and they will be true to you; treat them greatly, and they will show themselves great.

Treat others as you would be treated. Devote yourself to that, for there’s no more direct approach to Humanity.

Each one gave the other the only assistance one man can expect from another: that his friend support him and ask only that he remain himself. It is no great accomplishment to take people as they are, and we must always do so eventually, but to wish them to be as they are, that is a genuine love.

The way you see people is the way you treat them, and the way you treat them is what they become.

A man is what he wills himself to be.