Thomas Szasz Quotes - Page 4

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There is no psychology; there is only biography and autobiography.

Thomas Szasz

Psychology, Biographies, Autobiography

The Second Sin

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If, nevertheless, textbooks of pharmacology legitimately contain a chapter on drug abuse and drug addiction, then, by the same token, textbooks of gynecology and urology should contain a chapter on prostitution; textbooks of physiology, a chapter on perversion; textbooks of genetics, a chapter on the racial inferiority of Jews and Negroes.

Thomas Szasz

Gynecology, Addiction, Drug

Thomas Stephen Szasz (2003). “Ceremonial Chemistry: The Ritual Persecution of Drugs, Addicts, and Pushers”, p.11, Syracuse University Press

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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.

Thomas Szasz

Psychosis, Doubt, Neurosis

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

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Institutional psychiatry is a continuation of the Inquisition. All that has really changed is the vocabulary and the social style. The vocabulary conforms to the intellectual expectations of our age: it is a pseudo-medical jargon that parodies the concepts of science. The social style conforms to the political expectations of our age: it is a pseudo-liberal social movement that parodies the ideals of freedom and rationality.

Thomas Szasz

Vocabulary, Expectations, Political

Thomas Stephen Szasz (1997). “The Manufacture of Madness: A Comparative Study of the Inquisition and the Mental Health Movement”, p.27, Syracuse University Press

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He who does not accept and respect those who want to reject life does not truly accept and respect life itself.

Thomas Szasz

Suicide, Respect, Suicidal

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

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Since this is the age of science, not religion, psychiatrists are our rabbis, heroin is our pork, and the addict is the unclean person.

Thomas Szasz

Age, Pork, Heroin

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

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Men are afraid to rock the boat in which they hope to drift safely through life's currents, when, actually, the boat is stuck on a sandbar. They would be better off to rock the boat and try to shake it loose.

Thomas Szasz

Men, Rocks, Trying

Thomas Stephen Szasz (2004). “Words to the Wise: A Medical-Philosophical Dictionary”, p.140, Transaction Publishers

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Men often treat others worse than they treat themselves, but they rarely treat anyone better. It is the height of folly to expect consideration and decency from a person who mistreats himself.

Thomas Szasz

Kindness, Men, People

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The Nazis spoke of having a Jewish problem. We now speak of having a drug-abuse problem. Actually, "Jewish problem" was the name the Germans gave to their persecution of the Jews; "drug-abuse problem" is the name we give to the persecution of people who use certain drugs.

Thomas Szasz

Names, People, Giving

"The second sin". Book by Thomas Szasz, 1973.

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Psychoanalysis is an attempt to examine a person's self-justifications. Hence it can be undertaken only with the patient's cooperation and can succeed only when the patient has something to gain by abandoning or modifying his system of self-justification.

Thomas Szasz

Self, Gains, Succeed

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Suicide is a fundamental human right. This does not mean that it is desirable. It only means that society does not have the moral right to interfere, by force, with a persons decision to commit this act. The result is a far-reaching infantilization and dehumanization of the suicidal person.

Thomas Szasz

Suicide, Suicidal, Mean

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The disease concept of homosexuality as with the disease concept of all so-called mental illnesses, such as alcoholism, drug addiction, or suicide conceals the fact that homosexuals are a group of medically stigmatized and socially persecuted individuals. ... Their anguished cries of protest are drowned out by the rhetoric of therapy just as the rhetoric of salvation drowned out the [cries] of heretics.

Thomas Szasz

Suicide, Addiction, Drug

Thomas Stephen Szasz (1997). “The Manufacture of Madness: A Comparative Study of the Inquisition and the Mental Health Movement”, p.168, Syracuse University Press

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No further evidence is needed to show that 'mental illness' is not the name of a biological condition whose nature awaits to be elucidated, but is the name of a concept whose purpose is to obscure the obvious.

Thomas Szasz

Nature, Names, Purpose

Thomas Szasz (2017). “Words to the Wise: A Medical-Philosophical Dictionary”, p.137, Routledge

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The homosexual is a scapegoat who evokes no sympathy. Hence, he can only be a victim, never a martyr.

Thomas Szasz

Victim, Evoke, Martyr

Thomas Stephen Szasz (1997). “The Manufacture of Madness: A Comparative Study of the Inquisition and the Mental Health Movement”, p.169, Syracuse University Press

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It taught me, at an early age, that being wrong can be dangerous, but being right, when society regards the majority’s falsehood as truth, could be fatal.

Thomas Szasz

Age, Majority, Taught

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Competence in heterosexuality, or at least the appearance or pretense of such competence, is as much a public affair as a privateone. Thus, going steady is a high school diploma in heterosexuality; engagement a BA; marriage an MA; and children a Ph.D.

Thomas Szasz

Children, School, Heterosexuality

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We should pledge ourselves to the proposition that the irresponsible life is not worth living.

Thomas Szasz

Life Is, Should, Cognitive Therapy

Thomas Stephen Szasz (1989). “Law, Liberty, and Psychiatry: An Inquiry Into the Social Uses of Mental Health Practices”, p.255, Syracuse University Press

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If the dead talk to you, you are a spiritualist; if God talks to you, you are a schizophrenic.

Thomas Szasz

God, Madness, Schizophrenia

The Second Sin (1973) "Schizophrenia"

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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.

Thomas Szasz

Children, Adults, Principles

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

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If someone does something we disapprove of, we regard him as bad if we believe we can deter him from persisting in his conduct, but we regard him as mad if we believe we cannot. In either case, the crucial issue is our control of the other: the more we lose control over him, and the more he assumes control over himself, the more, in case of conflict, we are likely to consider him mad rather than just bad.

Thomas Szasz

Believe, Issues, Mad

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

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Man cannot long survive without air, water, and sleep. Next in importance comes food. And close on its heels, solitude.

Thomas Szasz

Sleep, Men, Air

Thomas Stephen Szasz “Words to the Wise: A Medical-Philosophical Dictionary”, Transaction Publishers

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All drugs of any interest to any moderately intelligent person in America are now illegal.

Thomas Szasz

Humor, Intelligent, America

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After generations of living under medical tutelage, which provides us with protection (albeit illusory) against "dangerous drugs", we have failed to cultivate the self-reliance and self-discipline we must possess as competent adults surrounded by the fruits of our pharmacological-technological age.

Thomas Szasz

Self, Discipline, Drug

Thomas Szasz (1996). “Our Right to Drugs: The Case for a Free Market”, p.24, Syracuse University Press

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The language of science—and especially of a science of man—is, necessarily, anti-individualistic, and hence a threat to human freedom and dignity.

Thomas Szasz

Men, Dignity, Language

Thomas Stephen Szasz, Karl Kraus (1990). “Anti-Freud: Karl Kraus's Criticism of Psychoanalysis and Psychiatry”, p.44, Syracuse University Press

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As the base rhetorician uses language to increase his own power, to produce converts to his own cause, and to create loyal followers of his own person - so the noble rhetorician uses language to wean men away from their inclination to depend on authority, to encourage them to think and speak clearly, and to teach them to be their own masters.

Thomas Szasz

Men, Thinking, Noble

"Anti-Freud: Karl Kraus's Criticism of Psychoanalysis and Psychiatry". Book by Thomas Szasz, May 1, 1990.

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Born: April 15, 1920
Died: September 8, 2012
Occupation: Psychiatrist
Cite this Page: Citation

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