Psych Quotes

There was no point in seeking to convert the intellectuals. For intellectuals would never be converted and would anyway always yield to the stronger, and this will always be "the man in the street." Arguments must therefore be crude, clear and forcible, and appeal to emotions and instincts, not the intellect. Truth was unimportant and entirely subordinate to tactics and psychology.

Through others we become ourselves.

Throughout history many nations have suffered a physical defeat, but that has never marked the end of a nation. But when a nation has become the victim of a psychological defeat, then that marks the end of a nation.

Love is a state of temporary psychosis.

A person who has been punished is not thereby simply less inclined to behave in a given way; at best, he learns how to avoid punishment.

There are... for us no instincts—we no longer need the term in psychology. Everything we have been in the habit of calling an 'instinct' today is a result largely of training—belonging to man's learned behavior.

Maturity is the ability to postpone gratification.

You must take your opponent into a deep dark forest where 2+2=5, and the path leading out is only wide enough for one

If you are not prepared to look at your pupils strength's, don't touch their weaknesses.

There is in every child at every stage a new miracle of vigorous unfolding.

Evolution of mankind is paralleled by the increase and expansion of consciousness.

Breathing is so important with physical activity, then how much more important is it with psychological activity?

Don't become a mere recorder of facts, but try to penetrate the mystery of their origin.

Everyone carries a piece of the puzzle. Nobody comes into your life by mere coincidence. Trust your instincts. Do the unexpected. Find the others.

The struggle is inner: Chicano, indio, American Indian, mojado, mexicano, immigrant Latino, Anglo in power, working class Anglo, Black, Asian--our psyches resemble the bordertowns and are populated by the same people. The struggle has always been inner, and is played out in outer terrains. Awareness of our situation must come before inner changes, which in turn come before changes in society. Nothing happens in the "real" world unless it first happens in the images in our heads.

Christianity was created by some decadent and degenerated Romans as a tool of oppression, in the late Roman era, and it should be treated accordingly. It is like handcuffs to the mind and spirit and is nothing but destructive to mankind. In fact I don't really see Christianity as a religion. It is more like a spiritual plague, a mass psychosis, and it should first and foremost be treated as a problem to be solved by the medical science. Christianity is a diagnosis. It's like Islam and the other Asian religions, a HIV/AIDS of the spirit and mind.

The behaviorist advances the view that what the psychologists have hitherto called thought is in short nothing but talking to ourselves.

When I look at the world I'm pessimistic, but when I look at people I am optimistic.

It is the client who knows what hurts, what directions to go, what problems are crucial, what experiences have been deeply buried.

Whatever happens, I will not let my cheerfulness be disturbed. Being unhappy won't get me anywhere and will dissipate all my goodness. Why be unhappy about something if you can change it? And if you can't, how will being unhappy help?

If it's not one thing, it's your mother.

The disappearance of a sense of responsibility is the most far-reaching consequence of submission to authority.

Problem talk creates problems, Solution talk creates solutions.

One of the most wicked destructive forces, psychologically speaking, is unused creative power ... If someone has a creative gift and out of laziness, or for some other reason, doesn't use it, the psychic energy turns to sheer poison. That's why we often diagnose neuroses and psychotic diseases as not-lived higher possibilities.

Oh! This'll impress you - I'm actually in the Abnormal Psychology textbook. Obviously my family is so proud. Keep in mind though, I'm a PEZ dispenser and I'm in the abnormal Psychology textbook. Who says you can't have it all?