The quotes
"The map is not the territory."
— Alfred Korzybski (via NLP) · Adopted as NLP's first presupposition
"If what you are doing isn't working, do something else."
— Richard Bandler
"There is no failure, only feedback."
— NLP presupposition
"The meaning of communication is the response you get."
— NLP presupposition
"Behind every behavior is a positive intention."
— NLP presupposition
"Choice is better than no choice."
— NLP presupposition
"People work perfectly — every behavior makes sense given the person's current map."
— NLP presupposition
"You cannot not communicate."
— Paul Watzlawick (widely cited inside NLP)
"The element with the most flexibility in a system controls the system."
— Ashby's law of requisite variety (adopted by NLP)
"Mind and body are part of the same system."
— NLP presupposition
"If one person can do something, anyone can learn to do it."
— NLP modelling principle
"The unconscious mind is your friend."
— Milton Erickson
"The truth is something we make up so that we can describe what we noticed."
— John Grinder
"Patience is a passive aggression toward time."
— Fritz Perls
"Words are pure magic - capable of inflicting harm or bestowing healing."
— Richard Bandler (paraphrased from Frogs into Princes)
"I would rather be whole than good."
— Carl Jung (often cited in NLP integrative work)
Frequently asked questions
Where do NLP quotes come from?
From the founders (Bandler, Grinder), the second-generation developers (Dilts, Robbins, the Andreases, O'Connor), and the exemplars NLP modeled (Erickson, Satir, Perls). Some quotes commonly attributed to NLP — particularly aphorisms widely shared on the internet — actually pre-date NLP and come from broader humanistic psychology.
Are these the official NLP presuppositions?
Quotes and presuppositions overlap but aren't the same. The presuppositions are the 15 working assumptions taught at Practitioner level; the quotes below include presuppositions plus broader sayings from the founders. See the full presuppositions page for the canonical list.