Thomas Szasz Quotes & Sayings

“The stupid neither forgive nor forget; the naive forgive and forget; the wise forgive but do not forget.”

“Two wrongs don't make a right, but they make a good excuse.”

“Clear thinking requires courage rather than intelligence.”

“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.”

“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.”

“Every act of conscious learning requires the willingness to suffer an injury to one's self-esteem. That is why young children, before they are aware of their own self-importance, learn so easily.”

“A teacher should have maximal authority, and minimal power.”

“If you talk to God, you are praying; If God talks to you, you have schizophrenia.”

“In the animal kingdom, the rule is, eat or be eaten; in the human kingdom, define or be defined.”

“Punishment is now unfashionable... because it creates moral distinctions among men, which, to the democratic mind, are odious. We prefer a meaningless collective guilt to a meaningful individual responsibility.”