Quotes by Anthony Storr

“the best relationships--friendship and otherwise--tend to be those where you *can* say anything to the other person but you dont say *everything*.”

“Idiosyncratic belief systems which are shared by only a few adherents are likely to be regarded as delusional. Belief systems which may be just as irrational but which are shared by millions are called world religions.i.e. When a man suffers from delusions he is described as mad but when a million do so they belong to a world religion.”

“Originality implies being bold enough to go beyond accepted norms.”

“The professional must learn to be moved and touched emotionally, yet at the same time stand back objectively: Ive seen a lot of damage done by tea and sympathy.”

“With the exception of certain rodents, no other vertebrate except Homo sapiens habitually destroys members of his own species.”

Whether a belief is considered to be a delusion or not depends partly upon the intensity with which it is defended, and partly upon the numbers of people subscribing to it.

It is widely believed that interpersonal relationships of an intimate kind are the chief, if not the only, source of human happiness. Yet the lives of creative individuals often seem to run counter to this assumption.

The ecstatic state of wholeness is bound to be transient because it has no part in the total pattern of ‘adaptation through maladaptation’ which is characteristic of our species…the hunger of imagination, the desire and pursuit of the whole, take origin from the realization that something is missing, from awareness of incompleteness.

The human spirit is not indestructible; but a courageous few discover that, when in hell, they are granted a glimpse of heaven.

The capacity to form attachments on equal terms is considered evidence of emotional maturity. It is the absence of this capacity which is pathological. Whether there may be other criteria of emotional maturity, like the capacity to be alone, is seldom taken into account.

In a culture in which interpersonal relationships are generally considered to provide the answer to every form of distress, it is sometimes difficult to persuade well-meaning helpers that solitude can be as therapeutic as emotional support.

That man is an aggressive creature will hardly be disputed. With the exception of certain rodents no other vertebrate habitually destroys members of its own species.

The professional must learn to be moved and touched emotionally, yet at the same time stand back objectively: Ive seen a lot of damage done by tea and sympathy.

It is only when we no longer compulsively need someone that we can have a real relationship with them.