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I shall not first give an historical survey and show the development of my ideas from the theories of others, because my mind does not work that way. What happens is that I gather this and that, here and there, settle down to clinical experience, form my own theories and then, last of all interest myself in looking to see where I stole what. Perhaps this is as good a method as any ["Primitive Emotional Development"; D.D.W., 1958, p. 145]
I have not met another analyst who was more inevitably himself [Khan, 1975, p. ix].
What you get out of me, you will have to pick out of chaos [Winnicott's remark to students before a lecture; quoted by Milner, 1978].
WINNICOTT WAS A MAN WHO LOVED PARADOX, so it is not surprising that anyone who attempts to form a systematic overview of Winnicott's work is immediately confronted with a paradox—that systematic thought is decidedly un-Winnicottian. To describe Winnicott one needs recourse to metaphor. Milner (1978) spoke of him as a Catherine-wheel firework that sends out sparks in all directions yet retains a center that is unchanged. Winnicott threw out ideas in all directions. Some