The underlying message of the Neighborhood is that if somebody cares about you, it's possible that you'll care about others. 'You are special, and so is your neighbor' - that part is essential: that you're not the only special person in the world. The person you happen to be with at the moment is loved, too.

Fred Rogers

Play is often talked about as if it were a relief from serious learning. But for children play is serious learning. Play is really the work of childhood.

Fred Rogers

Knowing that we can be loved exactly as we are gives us all the best opportunity for growing into the healthiest of people.

Fred Rogers

The number 143 means 'I love you.' It takes one letter to say 'I' and four letters to say 'love' and three letters to say 'you.' One hundred and forty-three. 'I love you.' Isn't that wonderful?

Fred Rogers

The underlying message of the Neighborhood is that if somebody cares about you, it's possible that you'll care about others. 'You are special, and so is your neighbor' - that part is essential: that you're not the only special person in the world. The person you happen to be with at the moment is loved, too.

Fred Rogers

Deep and simple are far, far more important than shallow and complicated and fancy.

Fred Rogers

How sad it is that we give up on people who are just like us.

Fred Rogers

When I was very young, most of my childhood heroes wore capes, flew through the air, or picked up buildings with one arm. They were spectacular and got a lot of attention. But as I grew, my heroes changed, so that now I can honestly say that anyone who does anything to help a child is a hero to me.

Fred Rogers

When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, 'Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.'

Fred Rogers

I think everybody longs to be loved and longs to know that he or she is lovable. And, consequently, the greatest thing that we can do is to help somebody know that they're loved and capable of loving.

Fred Rogers

Parents are like shuttles on a loom. They join the threads of the past with threads of the future and leave their own bright patterns as they go.

Fred Rogers

Love isn't a perfect state of caring. It's an active noun, like 'struggle.'

Fred Rogers

One of the most important gifts a parent can give a child is the gift of accepting that child's uniqueness.

Fred Rogers

I like to compare the holiday season with the way a child listens to a favorite story. The pleasure is in the familiar way the story begins, the anticipation of familiar turns it takes, the familiar moments of suspense, and the familiar climax and ending.

Fred Rogers

I think of discipline as the continual everyday process of helping a child learn self-discipline.

Fred Rogers

All of us have special ones who have loved us into being.

Fred Rogers

To love someone is to strive to accept that person exactly the way he or she is, right here and now.

Fred Rogers

It's not the honors and not the titles and not the power that is of ultimate importance. It's what resides inside.

Fred Rogers

The space between the television set and the viewer is holy ground.

Fred Rogers

When I first saw children's television, I thought it was perfectly horrible. And I thought there was some way of using this fabulous medium to be of nurture to those who would watch and listen.

Fred Rogers

The world is not always a kind place. That's something all children learn for themselves, whether we want them to or not, but it's something they really need our help to understand.

Fred Rogers