Thomas Szasz Quotes

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

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

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

“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.”

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

“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.”

“Marx said that religion was the opiate of the people. In the United States today, opiates are the religion of the people.”

“Mast*rbation: the primary sexual activity of mankind. In the nineteenth century it was a disease; in the twentieth, it's a cure.”

“Permissiveness is the principle of treating children as if they were adults; and the tactic of making sure they never reach that stage.”

“Prostitution is said to be the world's oldest profession. It is, indeed, a model of all professional work: the worker relinquishes control over himself in exchange for money. Because of the passivity it entails, this is a difficult and, for many, a distasteful role.”

“Psychiatrists look for twisted molecules and defective genes as the causes of schizophrenia, because schizophrenia is the name of a disease. If Christianity or Communism were called diseases, would they then look for the chemical and genetic causes of these conditions?”

“Self-respect is to the soul as oxygen is to the body. Deprive a person of oxygen, and you kill his body; deprive him of self-respect and you kill his spirit.”

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

“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.”

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

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

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

“Traditionally, sex has been a very private, secretive activity. Herein perhaps lies its powerful force for uniting people in a strong bond. As we make sex less secretive, we may rob it of its power to hold men and women together.”