Kurt Lewin - Collected Quotes

"A conflict is to be characterized psychologically as a situation in which oppositely directed, simultaneously acting forces of approximately equal strength work upon the individual." (Kurt Lewin, "A Dynamic Theory of Personality", 1935)

"A state of equilibrium in a system does not mean, further, that the system is without tension. Systems can, on the contrary, also come to equilibrium in a state of tension (e.g., a spring under tension or a container with gas under pressure).The occurrence of this sort of system, however, presupposes a certain firmness of boundaries and actual segregation of the system from its environment (both of these in a functional, not a spatial, sense). If the different parts of the system are insufficiently cohesive to withstand the forces working toward displacement (i.e., if the system shows insufficient internal firmness, if it is fluid), or if the system is not segregated from its environment by sufficiently firm walls but is open to its neighboring systems, stationary tensions cannot occur. Instead, there occurs a process in the direction of the forces, which encroaches upon the neighboring regions with diffusion of energy and which goes in the direction of an equilibrium at a lower level of tension in the total region. The presupposition for the existence of a stationary state of tension is thus a certain firmness of the system in question, whether this be its own inner firmness or the firmness of its walls." (Kurt Lewin, "A Dynamic Theory of Personality", 1935)

"The process moves in the direction of a state of equilibrium only for the system as a whole. Part processes may at the same time go on in opposed directions, a circumstance which is of the greatest significance for, for example, the theory of detour behavior. It is hence important to take the system whole which is dominant at the moment as basis." (Kurt Lewin, "A Dynamic Theory of Personality", 1935)

"After this first approximation, the various aspects of the situation undergo a more and more detailed analysis. In contrast to this the second method [for analysis of life space] begins with the life space as a whole and defines its fundamental structure. The procedure in this case is not to add disconnected items but to make the original structure more specific and differentiated. This method therefore proceeds by steps from the more general to the particular and thereby avoids the danger of a "wrong simplification" by abstraction." (Kurt Lewin, "Principles of topological psychology", 1936)

"Even if all the laws of psychology were known, one could make a prediction about the behavior of a man only if in addition to the laws, the special nature of the particular situation were known." (Kurt Lewin, "Principles of topological psychology", 1936)

"[Gestalt:] a system whose parts are dynamically connected in such a way that a change of one part results in a change of all other parts." (Kurt Lewin, "Principles of topological psychology", 1936)

"The young mathematical disciple 'topology' might be of some help in making psychology a real science." (Kurt Lewin, Principles of topological psychology, 1936)

"We know, since the theory of relativity at least, that empirical sciences are to some degree free in defining dynamical concepts or even in assuming laws, and that only a system as a whole which includes concepts, coordinating definitions, and laws can be said to be either true or false, to be adequate or inadequate to empirical facts. This 'freedom', however, is a somewhat doubtful gift. The manifold of possibilities implies uncertainty, and such uncertainty can become rather painful in a science as young as psychology, where nearly all concepts are open and unsettled. As psychology approaches the state of a logically sound science, definitions cease to be an arbitrary matter. They become far-reaching decisions which presuppose the mastering of the conceptual problems but which have to be guided entirely by the objective facts." (Kurt Lewin, "Principles of topological psychology", 1936)

"We no longer seek the cause of events in the nature of a single isolated object, but in the relationship between an object and its surroundings." (Kurt Lewin, "Principles of topological psychology", 1936)

"There is nothing as practical as a good theory” (Kurt Lewin, "Psychology and the process of group living", Journal of Social Psychology 17, 1943)

"For any type of social management, It is of great practical importance that levels of quasi-stationary equilibria can be changed in either of two ways: by adding forces in the desired direction, or by diminishing opposing forces." (Kurt Lewin, "Quasi-Stationary Social Equilibria and the Problem of Permanent Change", 1947)

"The study of the conditions for change begins appropriately with an analysis of the conditions for no change, that is, for the state of equilibrium." (Kurt Lewin, "Quasi-Stationary Social Equilibria and the Problem of Permanent Change", 1947)

"Whether or not a certain type of behaviour occurs depends not on the presence or absence of one fact or of a number of facts viewed in isolation, but upon the constellation (the structure and forces) of the specific field as a whole. The 'meaning' of the single fact depends upon its position in the field." (Kurt Lewin, "Field Theory in Social Science", 1952)