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Sheldon B. Kopp

Sheldon B. Kopp Quotes

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Famous Sheldon B. Kopp Quotes

“I do not mean to imply by this that a man can determine just what his world or his life will be like. A man, after all, is only a man. He stands somewhere between absolute freedom on the one hand, and total helplessness on the other. All of his important decisions must be made on the basis of insufficient data. It is enough if a man accepts his freedom, takes his best shot, does what he can, faces the consequences of his acts, and makes no excuses. It may not be fair that a man gets to have total responsibility for his own life without total control over it, but it seems to me that for good or for bad, that's just the way it is.”

FreedomResponsibilityUncertaintyExistentialismDecision MakingConsequences
Book:If You Meet the Buddha on the Road, Kill Him! The Pilgrimage of Psychotherapy Patients
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“That was when I finally got to it. This is just the way it was going to be. I could lose fifty pounds and be beautiful. I could write my Book of Books, and have it an underground success. I could even die and be reborn. But no matter what, I would always be as painfully shy and as bewildered by the social talk that brings people together, as shy and as bewildered as I had been since I was a kid. Without knowing what you say to leave without hurting, I pushed back my chair, stood up awkwardly, and silently wandered away. When I awoke I knew, for the first time again, that nothing ever really changes. The shyness is mine, like it or not. It's the best of me and the worst of me, and only the covering it up, the hiding it, and the running from it is not me. And for better or for worse, all of that that is not me is me, too.”

FreedomAnxietySelf AcceptanceCapabilityAbsurdityShyness
Book:If You Meet the Buddha on the Road, Kill Him! The Pilgrimage of Psychotherapy Patients
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