No further evidence is needed to show that 'mental illness' is not the name of a biological condition whose nature awaits to be elucidated, but is the name of a concept whose purpose is to obscure the obvious.
Thomas SzaszRead
Self-respect is to the soul as oxygen is to the body. Deprive a person of oxygen, and you kill his body; deprive him of self-respect and you kill his spirit.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Self-respect is essential for a person's inner well-being and spirit, just as oxygen is vital for physical survival.
This quote by Thomas Szasz emphasizes the fundamental importance of self-respect in nurturing one's spirit and inner self. Just as the body requires oxygen to function and survive, a person needs self-respect to maintain their mental and emotional health. Without it, the essence of who they are can be diminished or destroyed, leading to a loss of spirit and purpose.
Themes
Self-RespectSpiritOxygenWell-BeingImportance
In practice
Example use cases
This quote is perfect to share in a self-help seminar focused on personal growth.
More from Thomas Szasz
All quotes βClassifying thoughts, feelings and behaviors as diseases is a logical and semantic error, like classifying whale as fish.
Thomas SzaszRead
Addiction, obesity, starvation (anorexia nervosa) are political problems, not psychiatric: each condense and expresses a contest between the individual and some other person or persons in his environment over the control of the individual's body.
Thomas SzaszRead
In the past, men created witches: now they create mental patients.
Thomas SzaszRead
Adulthood is the ever-shrinking period between childhood and old age. It is the apparent aim of modern industrial societies to reduce this period to a minimum.
Thomas SzaszRead
The stupid neither forgive nor forget; the naive forgive and forget; the wise forgive but do not forget.
Thomas SzaszRead
Similar quotes
He that offereth sacrifice of the goods of the poor is as one that sacrificeth the son in the presence of his father.
Saint PatrickRead
As compacts, charters of government are superior in obligation to all others, because they give effect to all others. As truths, none can be more sacred, because they are bound, on the conscience by the religious sanctions of an oath. As metes and bounds of government, they transcend all other land-marks, because every public usurpation is an encroachment on the private right, not of one, but of all.
James MadisonRead
If you do anything out of the ordinary, you can be sure someone, somewhere, will get upset.
Haruki MurakamiRead
-I am not sure whether he's sane. -If there's any doubt about the matter, he is.
Robert Louis StevensonRead
Oh, breathe not his name! let it sleep in the shade, Where cold and unhonour'd his relics are laid
Charles LambRead
There are always interests that are furthered by war. Therefore, those who have power and influence can also stop them... we should not accept any excuses from those in power.
Martti AhtisaariRead