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Quote by Irvin D. Yalom

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When Nietzsche Wept

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Author

Irvin D. Yalom
Irvin D. Yalom

Irvin D. Yalom is an American author renowned for his psychological novels and philosophical reflections. His works delve into the essence of human existence, as well as psychotherapy and interpersonal relationships. more

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“This is because having to obey one concept of right is inherently unjust. God has given each of us a unique sense of right, so when we are forced to live under someone else’s for years and years, we run the risk of losing our own. But not everyone can be crushed. Sooner or later the longing for freedom is bound to assert itself.”

JusticeFreedom
Book:Anne Frank's Tales from the Secret Annex by Anne Frank
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“Next to the right to create, the right to criticize is the richest gift that liberty of thought and speech can offer. Living as you do in freedom, in that spiritual open where you were born and bred, you may be apt to regard stories of prison life coming from remote lands as exaggerated accounts spread by panting fugitives. That a country exists where for almost a quarter of a century literature has been limited to illustrating the advertisements of a firm of slave-traders is hardly credible to people for whom writing and reading books is synonymous with having and voicing individual opinions. But if you do not believe in the existence of such conditions, you may at least imagine them, and once you have imagined them you will realize with new purity and pride the value of real books written by free men for free men to read.”

LiteratureFreedomNabokov
Author:Vladimir Nabokov
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“100 Questions of Life 6. What is perfection? Perfection is imperfections we've made peace with. ... 13. What is nature? Nature is order within chaos. 14. What is order? Order is but friendship with chaos. 15. What is chaos? Chaos is order we are yet to understand. ... 21. What is knowledge? Knowledge is ignorance we've chosen to correct. 22. What is choice? Choice is the fulcrum of freedom. 23. What is freedom? Freedom is the fulcrum of responsibility. 24. What is responsibility? Responsibility is the act of backbone. 25. What is backbone? Backbone is more than a stick to hang your head. 26. What is the head? Head is the mightiest carrier of progress. 27. What is progress? Progress is much more than mere functioning of nuts and bolts. 28. What are nuts and bolts? Nuts and bolts are our greatest defense against unforeseen terrors of nature, on earth and beyond. ... 53. What is heritage? Heritage, in moderation, is an aid to growth, unmoderated, poison. ... 57. What is death? Death is but the fear of life. 58. What is fear? Fear is but memory of our animal past. 59. What is memory? Memory is the fabric of time. 60. What is time? Time is the meaning behind moments. ... 78. What is curiosity? Curiosity is a challenge to superstition. 79. What is superstition? Superstition is nature's antidote to the insecurity of the unknown. 80. What is insecurity? Insecurity is wisdom of the jungle against possible predatory attack. 81. What is wisdom? Wisdom is the result of travel in mind, not in time or space.”

Life LessonsFreedomKnowledgePsychologyProgressMemoryExistentialismInsecuritySuperstitionMental Health Awareness
Book:Rowdy Scientist: Handbook of Humanitarian Science
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“I can’t say the cops were foolish for putting this sort of target on my back. The numbers were certainly in their favor. The odds were, if they did pull me over on any given day, for any given reason, I would be up to something they could fine me for and collect money from it. In addition, my truck was blaring red, full of character, and hard to miss, just like me. As a teenager, however, I felt robbed of freedom, robbed of dignity, robbed of innocence. It took me years to realize that they weren’t the ones who were actually robbing me.”

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Book:Pursued: God’s relentless pursuit and a drug addict’s journey to finding purpose
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“You hear your Oriental friends called 'greasy little babus', and you admit, dutifully, that they ARE greasy little babus. You see louts fresh from school kicking grey-haired servants. The time comes when you burn with hatred of your own countrymen, when you long for a native rising to drown their Empire in blood. And in this there is nothing honourable, hardly even any sincerity. For, au fond, what do you care if the Indian Empire is a despotism, if Indians are bullied and exploited? You only care because the right of free speech is denied you. You are a creature of the despotism, a pukka sahib, tied tighter than a monk or a savage by an unbreakable system of tabus.”

FreedomPsychologyColonialismEmpireBrutalization
Book:Burmese Days
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