Thomas Szasz
Psychologist
1920-04-15
Quotes by Thomas Szasz
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People often say that this or that person has not yet found himself. But the self is not something one finds, it is something one creates.
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In the animal kingdom, the rule is, eat or be eaten; in the human kingdom, define or be defined.
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In the United States today, there is a pervasive tendency to treat children as adults, and adults as children. The options of children are thus steadily expanded, while those of adults are progressively constricted. The result is unruly children and childish adults.
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Thousands of years ago--in times we are fond of calling primitive (since this renders us modern without having to exert ourselves further to earn this qualification)...
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Parents teach children discipline for two different, indeed diametrically opposed, reasons: to render the child submissive to them and to make him independent of them. Only a self-disciplined person can be obedient; and only such a person can be autonomous.
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Two wrongs don't make a right, but they make a good excuse.
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Two wrongs don't make a right, but they make a good excuse.
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In the animal kingdom, the rule is, eat or be eaten; in the human kingdom, define or be defined.
Read quote -
In the United States today, there is a pervasive tendency to treat children as adults, and adults as children. The options of children are thus steadily expanded, while those of adults are progressively constricted. The result is unruly children and childish adults.
Read quote -
Thousands of years ago--in times we are fond of calling primitive (since this renders us modern without having to exert ourselves further to earn this qualification)...
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Parents teach children discipline for two different, indeed diametrically opposed, reasons: to render the child submissive to them and to make him independent of them. Only a self-disciplined person can be obedient; and only such a person can be autonomous.
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People often say that this or that person has not yet found himself. But the self is not something one finds, it is something one creates.
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It is the lot of mankind to feel not only insecure but also bored. To combat that experience, people long to be passively entertained, which requires less effort than assuming responsibility for self-improvement.
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Adulthood is the ever-shrinking period between childhood and old age. It is the apparent aim of modern industrial societies to reduce this period to a minimum.
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Doubt is to certainty as neurosis is to psychosis. The neurotic is in doubt and has fears about persons and things; the psychotic has convictions and makes claims about them. In short, the neurotic has problems, the psychotic has solutions.
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Mental illness, of course, is not literally a 'thing' - or physical object - and hence it can 'exist' only in the same sort of way in which other theoretical concepts exist.
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Individual psychotherapy - that is, engaging a distressed fellow human in a disciplined conversation and human relationship - requires that the therapist have the proper temperament and philosophy of life for such work. By that I mean that the therapist must be patient, modest, and a perceptive listener, rather than a talker and advice-giver.
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Permissiveness is the principle of treating children as if they were adults; and the tactic of making sure they never reach that stage.
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Narcissist: psychoanalytic term for the person who loves himself more than his analyst; considered to be the manifestation of a dire mental disease whose successful treatment depends on the patient learning to love the analyst more and himself less.
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Boredom is the feeling that everything is a waste of time; serenity, that nothing is.
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