---
title: "2 Therapists Quotes By Thomas Szasz"
description: "2 Therapists quotes by Thomas Szasz. Plus more from Thomas Szasz and more Therapists sayings from other authors."
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---

> [Only idiots and infants need things. The language of needs is the native tongue of socialists, therapists, and paternalists of all sorts and is addressed to needy dependents. The language of wants is spoken by self-respecting adults and is addressed…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-szasz/only-idiots-and-infants-need-things-the-language-of-needs-is-the/)

[Thomas Szasz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-szasz/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/078/thomas-szasz-3801_adults_only-idiots-and-infants-need-things-the_1502842.jpg)

> [Individual psychotherapy - that is, engaging a distressed fellow human in a disciplined conversation and human relationship - requires that the therapist have the proper temperament and philosophy of life for such work. By that I mean that the therapist…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-szasz/individual-psychotherapy-that-is-engaging-a-distressed-fellow-human/)

[Thomas Szasz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-szasz/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/728/thomas-szasz-3801_advice_individual-psychotherapy-that-is-engagin_1956600.jpg)

## Other authors on Therapists

- [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b005/author-bob-nelson-18651.jpg) Kelly Carlin-McCall 11 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/therapists/kelly-carlin-mccall/)
- [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b012/author-irvin-d-yalom-44604.jpg) Irvin D. Yalom 11 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/therapists/irvin-d-yalom/)
- [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b007/author-david-heinemeier-hansson-27552.jpg) Michael Salter 6 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/therapists/michael-salter/)
- [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b003/author-albert-ellis-10499.jpg) Albert Ellis 6 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/therapists/albert-ellis/)

## More by Thomas Szasz

> [Institutional psychiatry is a continuation of the Inquisition. All that has really changed is the vocabulary and the social style. The vocabulary conforms to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-szasz/institutional-psychiatry-is-a-continuation-of-the-inquisition-all/)

[Thomas Szasz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-szasz/)

> [By pretending that convention is Nature, that disobeying a personal prohibition is a medical illness, they establish themselves as agents of social control and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-szasz/by-pretending-that-convention-is-nature-that-disobeying-a-personal/)

[Thomas Szasz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-szasz/)

> [We shall therefore compare the concept of homosexuality as heresy, prevalent in the days of the witch-hunts, with the concept of homosexuality as mental…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-szasz/we-shall-therefore-compare-the-concept-of-homosexuality-as-heresy/)

[Thomas Szasz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-szasz/)

> [The basic ingredients of psychotherapy are religion, rhetoric, and repression, which are themselves mutually overlapping categories.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-szasz/the-basic-ingredients-of-psychotherapy-are-religion-rhetoric-and/)

[Thomas Szasz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-szasz/)

> [For Jews, the Messiah has never come; for Christians, He has come but once; for modern man, He appears and disappears with increasing rapidity.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-szasz/for-jews-the-messiah-has-never-come-for-christians-he-has-come-but/)

[Thomas Szasz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-szasz/)

> [I submit that the traditional definition of psychiatry, which is still vogue, places it alongside such things as alchemy and astrology, and commits it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-szasz/i-submit-that-the-traditional-definition-of-psychiatry-which-is-still/)

[Thomas Szasz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-szasz/)

> [I believe the time has come to acknowledge that the practice of routine circumcision rests on the absurd premise that the only mammal in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-szasz/i-believe-the-time-has-come-to-acknowledge-that-the-practice-of/)

[Thomas Szasz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-szasz/)

> [He who does not accept and respect those who want to reject life does not truly accept and respect life itself.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-szasz/he-who-does-not-accept-and-respect-those-who-want-to-reject-life-does/)

[Thomas Szasz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-szasz/)

> [The passion to interpret as madness that with which we disagree seems to have infected the best of contemporary minds.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-szasz/the-passion-to-interpret-as-madness-that-with-which-we-disagree-seems/)

[Thomas Szasz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-szasz/)

> [We should pledge ourselves to the proposition that the irresponsible life is not worth living.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-szasz/we-should-pledge-ourselves-to-the-proposition-that-the-irresponsible/)

[Thomas Szasz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-szasz/)

> [A child becomes an adult when he realizes that he has a right not only to be right but also to be wrong.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-szasz/a-child-becomes-an-adult-when-he-realizes-that-he-has-a-right-not/)

[Thomas Szasz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-szasz/)

> [We have, in our day, witnessed the birth of the Therapeutic State. This is perhaps the major implication of psychiatry as an institution of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-szasz/we-have-in-our-day-witnessed-the-birth-of-the-therapeutic-state-this/)

[Thomas Szasz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-szasz/)

> [The homosexual is a scapegoat who evokes no sympathy. Hence, he can only be a victim, never a martyr.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-szasz/the-homosexual-is-a-scapegoat-who-evokes-no-sympathy-hence-he-can/)

[Thomas Szasz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-szasz/)

> [People dream of making the virtuous powerful, so they can depend upon them. Since they cannot do that, people choose to make the powerful…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-szasz/people-dream-of-making-the-virtuous-powerful-so-they-can-depend-upon/)

[Thomas Szasz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-szasz/)

> [The greatest analgesic, soporific, stimulant, tranquilizer, narcotic, and to some extent even antibiotic - in short, the closest thing to a genuine panacea -…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-szasz/the-greatest-analgesic-soporific-stimulant-tranquilizer-narcotic-and/)

[Thomas Szasz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-szasz/)

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