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Thomas Szasz

Thomas Szasz Quotes

Psychiatrist

Thomas Szasz, born on April 15, 1920 in Hungary, was a renowned American psychiatrist, writer, and philosopher. He is known for his critical views on psychiatry and liberalism, particularly his skepticism about the nature of mental illness and his emphasis on individual freedom.

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All Men Persons Psychiatry People Self Ifs Children Humans Illness Mental Illness Age Drug Psychiatrist Concepts Doe Individual Medical Patient Problem Adults

Famous Thomas Szasz Quotes

“For Jews, the Messiah has never come; for Christians, He has come but once; for modern man, He appears and disappears with increasing rapidity. The saviors of modern man, the "scientists" who promise salvation through the "discoveries" of ethology and sociology, psychology and psychiatry, and all the other bogus religions, issue forth periodically, as if selected by some Messiah-of-the-Month Club.”

Ifs Men Christian Issues Psychology Modern Months Promise Discovery Scientist Salvation Jew Clubs Disappear Savior Sociology Psychiatry Selected Messiah Modern Man

Author:Thomas Szasz

“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.”

Source: Ceremonial Chemistry: The Ritual Persecution of Drugs, Addicts, and Pushers

“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"?”

Ifs Looks Names Causes Christianity Conditions Disease Communism Chemicals Genes Twisted Psychiatrist Molecules Schizophrenia Defective

Book:The second sin

Source: The second sin

“Like Karl Kraus [Wittgenstein], was seldom pleased by what he saw of the institutions of men, and the idiom of the passerby mostly offended his ear - particularly when they happened to speak philosophically; and like Karl Kraus, he suspected that the institutions could not but be corrupt if the idiom of the race was confused, presumptuous, and vacuous, a fabric of nonsense, untruth, deception, and self-deception.”

Ifs Men Self Speak Race Saws Happened Ears Institutions Deception Confused Nonsense Fabric Offended Self Deception Untruth Idiom Presumptuous Vacuous Passerby

Author:Thomas Szasz

“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.”

Ifs Believe Doe Loses Cases Issues Conflict Regard Mad Assuming Crucial Nonconformity

Book:The second sin

Source: The second sin

“How can depression be real if our eyes arent real?”

Ifs Real Eye Being Real

Author:Thomas Szasz

“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.”

Ifs Believe Doe Regard Mad

Book:The second sin

Source: The second sin

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

Ifs Humor Prayer Praying Depression Humorous Mental Illness Cynical Schizophrenia Talking To God Always Praying

Author:Thomas Szasz

“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.”

Ifs Self Duty Easier Selfish

Book:The second sin

Source: The second sin

“The proverb warns that 'You should not bite the hand that feeds you.' But maybe you should, if it prevents you from feeding yourself.”

Ifs Should Hands Liberty Libertarian Bites Feeding Self Reliance Reliance

Book:The second sin

Source: The second sin

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

Ifs God Madness Schizophrenia Schizophrenic

Author:Thomas Szasz

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

Ifs Children Principles Stage Adults Tactics

Book:The second sin

Source: The second sin

“If he who breaks the law is not punished, he who obeys it is cheated. This, and this alone, is why lawbreakers ought to be punished: to authenticate as good, and to encourage as useful, law-abiding behavior. The aim of criminal law cannot be correction or deterrence; it can only be the maintenance of the legal order.”

Ifs Law Order Break Ought Behavior Aim Criminals Punishment Abiding Cheated Maintenance Corrections Criminal Law Deterrence Criminal Behavior Law Breakers

Book:The Meaning of Mind: Language, Morality, and Neuroscience

Source: The Meaning of Mind: Language, Morality, and Neuroscience