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Irvin D. Yalom

Irvin D. Yalom Quotes

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Famous Irvin D. Yalom Quotes

“Try this thought experiment. Stare directly at the sun; take an unblinkered view at your place in existence; attempt to live without the protective railings many religions offer—that is, some form of continuation, immortality, or reincarnation, all of which deny death’s finality.”

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Book:Staring at the Sun: Overcoming the Terror of Death
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“-De aur? Chiar? Zau, Paula, ce poate fi de aur in privinta mortii? -Irv, m-a mustrat Paula, asta e o intrebare gresita! Incearca sa intelegi ca de aur nu e moartea, ci trairea deplina a vietii fata in fata cu moartea. Gandeste-te cat de intense si de pretioase sunt ultimele experiente: ultima primavara, ultimul zbor al pufului de papadie, ultima scuturare a florilor de wisteria. Perioada de aur este, spunea Paula, si vremea marii eliberari – o vreme in care ai libertatea sa zici nu tuturor obligatiilor banale, sa te dedici cu totul lucrurilor de care iti pasa cel mai tare – prezenta prietenilor, anotimpurile care se schimba, unduirea marii.”

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Book:Momma and the Meaning of Life: Tales of Psychotherapy – A Therapist's Clinical Stories of Memorable Patients and Transformation
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“Decisions are difficult for many reasons, some reaching down into the very socket of being. John Gardner, in his novel Grendel, tells of a wise man who sums up his meditation on life’s mysteries in two simple but terrible postulates: “Things fade: alternatives exclude.” Of the first postulate, death, I have already spoken. The second, “alternatives exclude,” is an important key to understanding why decision is difficult. Decision invariably involves renunciation: for every yes there must be a no, each decision eliminating or killing other options (the root of the word decide means “slay,” as in homicide or suicide). Thus, Thelma clung to the infinitesimal chance that she might once again revive her relationship with her lover, renunciation of that possibility signifying diminishment and death.”

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Book:Love's Executioner and Other Tales of Psychotherapy
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“But he gave no greater gift than the one he offered me shortly before he died, and it was a gift that answers for all time the question of whether it is rational or appropriate to strive for “ambitious” therapy in those who are terminally ill. When I visited him in the hospital he was so weak he could barely move, but he raised his head, squeezed my hand, and whispered, “Thank you. Thank you for saving my life.”

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Book:Love's Executioner and Other Tales of Psychotherapy
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“It's not easy to live every moment wholly aware of death. It's like trying to stare the sun in the face: you can stand only so much of it. Because we cannot live frozen in fear, we generate methods to soften death's terror. We project ourselves into the future through our children; we grow rich, famous, ever larger; we develop compulsive protective rituals; or we embrace an impregnable belief in an ultimate rescuer.”

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Book:Staring at the Sun: Overcoming the Terror of Death
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