This account of the author's psychoanalytic education and the subsequent evolution of his theoretical and technical beliefs emphasizes his sustained attachment to classical Freudian principles. The refinement of his views consequent to his close friendship and collaboration with Charles Brenner is described. In recent years, his study of the work of certain colleagues who are exponents of other psychoanalytic points of view has resulted in some modulation of his technical stance, without altering his fundamental convictions about the nature of the psychoanalytic enterprise.