--- title: "1 Man Integrity Quotes By John Barth" description: "1 Man Integrity quotes by John Barth. Plus more from John Barth and more Man Integrity sayings from other authors." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9e6/john-barth-5311_ego_now-many-crises-in-people-s-lives-occur_2243357.jpg" --- > [“Now many crises in people’s lives occur because the hero role that they’ve assumed for one situation or set of situations no longer applies to some new situation that comes up, or–the same thing in effect–because they haven’t the imagination…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-barth/now-many-crises-in-people-s-lives-occur-because-the-hero-role-that-2/) [John Barth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-barth/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9e6/john-barth-5311_ego_now-many-crises-in-people-s-lives-occur_2243357.jpg) ## More by John Barth > [Tis e'er the wont of simple folk to prize the deed and o'erlook the motive, and of learned folk to discount the deed and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-barth/tis-e-er-the-wont-of-simple-folk-to-prize-the-deed-and-o-erlook-the/) [John Barth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-barth/) > [“So, I begin each day with a gesture of cynicism, and close it with a gesture of faith; or, if you prefer, begin it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-barth/so-i-begin-each-day-with-a-gesture-of-cynicism-and-close-it-with-a/) [John Barth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-barth/) > [I admire writers who can make complicated things simple, but my own talent has been to make simple things complicated.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-barth/i-admire-writers-who-can-make-complicated-things-simple-but-my-own/) [John Barth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-barth/) > [“That clever folk care less for what ye think than why ye think it.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-barth/that-clever-folk-care-less-for-what-ye-think-than-why-ye-think-it/) [John Barth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-barth/) > [Printed prose is historically a most peculiar, almost an aberrant way of telling stories, and by far the most inherently anesthetic: It is the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-barth/printed-prose-is-historically-a-most-peculiar-almost-an-aberrant-way/) [John Barth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-barth/) > [“There's a great difficulty in making choices if you have any imagination at all. Faced with such a multitude of desireable choices, no one…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-barth/there-s-a-great-difficulty-in-making-choices-if-you-have-any/) [John Barth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-barth/) > [Self knowledge is always bad news.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-barth/self-knowledge-is-always-bad-news/) [John Barth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-barth/) > [The first obligation of the writer is to be interesting. To be interesting; not to change the world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-barth/the-first-obligation-of-the-writer-is-to-be-interesting-to-be/) [John Barth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-barth/) > [Yet everyone begins in the same place; how is it that most go along without difficulty but a few lose their way?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-barth/yet-everyone-begins-in-the-same-place-how-is-it-that-most-go-along/) [John Barth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-barth/) > [A curious thing about written literature: It is about four thousand years old, but we have no way of knowing whether four thousand years…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-barth/a-curious-thing-about-written-literature-it-is-about-four-thousand/) [John Barth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-barth/) > [Nothing is loathsomer than the self-loathing of a self one loathes.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-barth/nothing-is-loathsomer-than-the-self-loathing-of-a-self-one-loathes/) [John Barth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-barth/) > [He wishes he had never entered the funhouse. But he has. Then he wishes he were dead. But he's not. Therefore he will construct…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-barth/he-wishes-he-had-never-entered-the-funhouse-but-he-has-then-he-wishes/) [John Barth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-barth/) > [“Am I boring you? I don't really care, I suppose, but I'll be more comfortable if I knew all this interested you. No doubt…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-barth/am-i-boring-you-i-don-t-really-care-i-suppose-but-i-ll-be-more/) [John Barth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-barth/) > [Though life's tuition is always ruinous, inexorably we learn.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-barth/though-life-s-tuition-is-always-ruinous-inexorably-we-learn/) [John Barth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-barth/) > [“The difference here 'twixt simple and witty folk, if the truth be known, is that your plain man cares much for what stand ye…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-barth/the-difference-here-twixt-simple-and-witty-folk-if-the-truth-be-known/) [John Barth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-barth/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "ItemList", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/man-integrity/john-barth/#itemlist", "name": "1 Man Integrity Quotes By John Barth", "numberOfItems": 1, "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Now many crises in people’s lives occur because the hero role that they’ve assumed for one situation or set of situations no longer applies to some new situation that comes up, or–the same thing in effect–because they haven’t the imagination to distort the new situation to fit their old role. This happens to parents, for instance, when their children grow older, and to lovers when one of them begins to dislike the other. If the new situation is too overpowering to ignore, and they can’t find a mask to meet it with, they may become schizophrenic–a last-resort mask–or simply shattered. All questions of integrity involve this consideration, because a man’s integrity consists in being faithful to the script he’s written for himself. “I’ve said you’re too unstable to play any one part all the time–you’re also too unimaginative–so for you these crises had better be met by changing scripts as often as necessary. This should come naturally to you; the important thing for you is to realize what you’re doing so you won’t get caught without a script, or with the wrong script in a given situation. You did quite well, for example, for a beginner, to walk in here so confidently and almost arrogantly a while ago, and assign me the role of a quack. But you must be able to change masks at once if by some means or other I’m able to make the one you walked in with untenable. Perhaps–I’m just suggesting an offhand possibility–you could change to thinking of me as The Sagacious Old Mentor, a kind of Machiavellian Nestor, say, and yourself as The Ingenuous But Promising Young Protégé, a young Alexander, who someday will put all these teachings into practice and far outshine the master. Do you get the idea? Or–this is repugnant, but it could be used as a last resort–The Silently Indignant Young Man, who tolerates the ravings of a Senile Crank but who will leave this house unsullied by them. I call this repugnant because if you ever used it you’d cut yourself off from much that you haven’t learned yet. “It’s extremely important that you learn to assume these masks wholeheartedly. Don’t think there’s anything behind them: ego means I, and I means ego, and the ego by definition is a mask. Where there’s no ego–this is you on the bench–there’s no I. If you sometimes have the feeling that your mask is insincere–impossible word!–it’s only because one of your masks is incompatible with another. You mustn’t put on two at a time. There’s a source of conflict, and conflict between masks, like absence of masks, is a source of immobility. The more sharply you can dramatize your situation, and define your own role and everybody else’s role, the safer you’ll be. It doesn’t matter in Mythotherapy for paralytics whether your role is major or minor, as long as it’s clearly conceived, but in the nature of things it’ll normally be major. Now say something.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "John Barth" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-barth/now-many-crises-in-people-s-lives-occur-because-the-hero-role-that-2/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9e6/john-barth-5311_ego_now-many-crises-in-people-s-lives-occur_2243357.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9e6/john-barth-5311_ego_now-many-crises-in-people-s-lives-occur_2243357.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9e6/john-barth-5311_ego_now-many-crises-in-people-s-lives-occur_2243357.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Now many crises in people’s lives occur because the hero role that they’ve assumed for one situation or set…” — John Barth", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } } ] }, { "@type": "CollectionPage", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/man-integrity/john-barth/#webpage", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/man-integrity/john-barth/", "name": "Man Integrity Quotes by John Barth", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/man-integrity/john-barth/#itemlist" }, "primaryImageOfPage": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9e6/john-barth-5311_ego_now-many-crises-in-people-s-lives-occur_2243357.jpg" }, "description": "1 Man Integrity quotes by John Barth. 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