Thomas Szasz Quotes - Page 2

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• The plague of mankind is the fear and rejection of diversity: monotheism, monarchy, monogamy and, in our age, monomedicine. The belief that there is only one right way to live, only one right way to regulate religious, political, sexual, medical affairs is the root cause of the greatest threat to man: members of his own species, bent on ensuring his salvation, security, and sanity.

  Thomas Szasz

  Religious, Men, Roots

  38 Copy 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.

  Thomas Szasz

  Children, Parent, Today

  Thomas Stephen Szasz (1990). “The Untamed Tongue: A Dissenting Dictionary”, Open Court Publishing Company

  19 Copy quote

• Knowledge is gained by learning; trust by doubt; skill by practice; and love by love.

  Thomas Szasz

  Love, Inspirational, Learning

  Thomas Stephen Szasz (2004). “Words to the Wise: A Medical-Philosophical Dictionary”, p.139, Transaction Publishers

  31 Copy quote

• Men love liberty because it protects them from control and humiliation by others, thus affording them the possibility of dignity; they loathe liberty because it throws them back on their own abilities and resources, thus confronting them with the possibility of insignificance.

  Thomas Szasz

  Men, Liberty, Libertarian

  Thomas Szasz (2017). “Words to the Wise: A Medical-Philosophical Dictionary”, p.109, Routledge

  12 Copy quote

• Marriages are said to be made in Heaven, which may be why they don't work here on Earth.

  Thomas Szasz

  Marriage, Heaven, Earth

  16 Copy quote

• When a person can no longer laugh at himself, it is time for others to laugh at him.

  Thomas Szasz

  Laughter, Drinking, Laughing

  Thomas Szasz (2017). “Words to the Wise: A Medical-Philosophical Dictionary”, p.260, Routledge

  47 Copy quote

• The poor need jobs and money, not psychoanalysis. The uneducated need knowledge and skills, not psychoanalysis.

  Thomas Szasz

  Jobs, Skills, Needs

  Thomas Szasz (1988). “The Ethics of Psychoanalysis: The Theory and Method of Autonomous Psychotherapy”, p.28, Syracuse University Press

  18 Copy quote

• It is easier to do one's duty to others than to one's self. If you do your duty to others, you are considered reliable. If you do your duty to yourself, you are considered selfish.

  Thomas Szasz

  Selfish, Easier, Duty

  Thomas Stephen Szasz (1973). “The second sin”, Anchor

  18 Copy quote

• I believe the time has come to acknowledge that the practice of routine circumcision rests on the absurd premise that the only mammal in creation born in the condition that requires immediate surgical correction is the human male.

  Thomas Szasz

  Believe, Practice, Mammals

  63 Copy quote

• A person cannot make another happy, but he can make him unhappy. This is the main reason why there is more unhappiness than happiness in the world.

  Thomas Szasz

  Unhappy, World, Reason Why

  Thomas Stephen Szasz (2004). “Words to the Wise: A Medical-Philosophical Dictionary”, p.211, Transaction Publishers

  12 Copy quote

• The wise treat self-respect as non-negotiable, and will not trade it for health or wealth or anything else.

  Thomas Szasz

  Wise, Self, Wealth

  Thomas Stephen Szasz (1973). “The second sin”, Anchor

  7 Copy quote

• We achieve active mastery over illness and death by delegating all responsibility for their management to physicians, and by exiling the sick and the dying to hospitals. But hospitals serve the convenience of staff not patients: we cannot be properly ill in a hospital, nor die in one decently; we can do so only among those who love and value us. The result is the institutionalized dehumanization of the ill, characteristic of our age.

  Thomas Szasz

  Love, Responsibility, Sick

  65 Copy quote

• Psychiatric expert testimony: mendacity masquerading as medicine.

  Thomas Szasz

  Medicine, Experts, Mendacity

  Thomas Stephen Szasz (2004). “Words to the Wise: A Medical-Philosophical Dictionary”, p.162, Transaction Publishers

  32 Copy quote

• A child becomes an adult when he realizes that he has a right not only to be right but also to be wrong.

  Thomas Szasz

  Family, Children, Maturity

  The Second Sin (1973) "Childhood"

  35 Copy quote

• Formerly, when religion was strong and science weak, men mistook magic for medicine; now, when science is strong and religion weak, men mistake medicine for magic.

  Thomas Szasz

  Strong, Mistake, Men

  The Second Sin "Science and Scientism" (1973)

  50 Copy quote

• Mysticism joins and unites; reason divides and separates. People crave belonging more than understanding. Hence the prominent role of mysticism, and the limited role of reason in human affairs.

  Thomas Szasz

  People, Understanding, Roles

  Thomas Stephen Szasz (1990). “The Untamed Tongue: A Dissenting Dictionary”, Open Court Publishing Company

  12 Copy quote

• Science can give us power over nature, but it cannot give us power over human nature.

  Thomas Szasz

  Giving, Human Nature, Humans

  16 Copy quote

• The system isn't stupid, but the people in it are.

  Thomas Szasz

  Stupid, People

  23 Copy quote

• Why do children want to grow up? Because they experience their lives as constrained by immaturity and perceive adulthood as a condition of greater freedom and opportunity. But what is there today, in America, that very poor and very rich adolescents want to do but cannot do? Not much: they can do drugs, have sex, make babies, and get money (from their parents, crime, or the State). For such adolescents, adulthood becomes synonymous with responsibility rather than liberty. Is it any surprise that they remain adolescents?

  Thomas Szasz

  Inspirational, Baby, Sex

  37 Copy quote

• What people really need and demand from life is not wealth, comfort, or esteem, but games worth playing

  Thomas Szasz

  Games, People, Comfort

  57 Copy quote

• Sex is a body-contact sport. It is safe to watch but more fun to play.

  Thomas Szasz

  Sports, Sex, Fun

  Thomas Stephen Szasz (1981). “Sex by prescription”, Penguin (Non-Classics)

  21 Copy quote

• Psychiatry does not commit human rights abuse. It is a human rights abuse.

  Thomas Szasz

  Rights, Abuse, Doe

  41 Copy quote

• 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.

  Thomas Szasz

  Love, Successful, Conceited

  52 Copy quote

• 'Statistics' show that 66% of clients are cured with psychotherapy; what statistics don't show is that 72% are cured without it.

  Thomas Szasz

  Investing, Statistics, Clients

  10 Copy quote

• Masturbation: the primary sexual activity of mankind. In the nineteenth century it was a disease; in the twentieth, it's a cure.

  Thomas Szasz

  Sex, Disease, Masturbation

  The Second Sin (1973) "Sex"

  48 Copy quote

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