--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Psychoanalysis: a rabbit that was…" description: "\"Psychoanalysis: a rabbit that was swallowed by a boa constrictor just wanted to see what it was like in there.\" — Karl Kraus" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f77/karl-kraus-1128_psychoanalysis_psychoanalysis-a-rabbit-that-was-swallow_1322295.png" --- # Psychoanalysis: a rabbit that was swallowed by a boa… ![“Psychoanalysis: a rabbit that was swallowed by a boa constrictor just wanted to see what it was like in there.” quote by Karl Kraus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f77/karl-kraus-1128_psychoanalysis_psychoanalysis-a-rabbit-that-was-swallow_1322295.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f77/karl-kraus-1128_psychoanalysis_psychoanalysis-a-rabbit-that-was-swallow_1322295.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f77/karl-kraus-1128_psychoanalysis_psychoanalysis-a-rabbit-that-was-swallow_1322295.png) > “Psychoanalysis: a rabbit that was swallowed by a boa constrictor just wanted to see what it was like in there.” [Karl Kraus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-kraus/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. A metaphor illustrating how confronting the unknown can be both terrifying and enlightening. **In simple terms:** Facing the unknown can be scary yet revealing. Key Takeaway Embrace curiosity despite fear. Themes psychology metaphor exploration Mood reflective intrigued Type philosophical metaphorical When to use this quote - personal growth - therapy - self‑discovery Key Concepts psychoanalysis symbolism Questions to Reflect On - What does the boa represent for you? - How can curiosity overcome fear? A Different Perspective The analogy may oversimplify complex mental processes. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Psychoanalysis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/psychoanalysis/) [Rabbit](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/rabbit/) ## Related quotes > [Psychoanalysis is the mental illness it purports to cure](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-kraus/psychoanalysis-is-the-mental-illness-it-purports-to-cure/) [Karl Kraus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-kraus/) > [Most people are sick. But only a few know that this is something they can be proud of. These are the psychoanalysts.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-kraus/most-people-are-sick-but-only-a-few-know-that-this-is-something-they/) [Karl Kraus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-kraus/) > [The psychoanalysts pick our dreams as if they were our pockets.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-kraus/the-psychoanalysts-pick-our-dreams-as-if-they-were-our-pockets/) [Karl Kraus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-kraus/) > [The ultimate aim of psychoanalysis is to attribute art to mental weakness, and then to trace the weakness back to the point where, according…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-kraus/the-ultimate-aim-of-psychoanalysis-is-to-attribute-art-to-mental/) [Karl Kraus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-kraus/) > [Psychoanalysis is that mental illness for which it regards itself as therapy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-kraus/psychoanalysis-is-that-mental-illness-for-which-it-regards-itself-as/) [Karl Kraus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-kraus/) > [So-called psychoanalysis is the occupation of lustful rationalists who trace everything in the world to sexual causes--with the exception of their occupation.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-kraus/so-called-psychoanalysis-is-the-occupation-of-lustful-rationalists/) [Karl Kraus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-kraus/) > [I can write, He floated up to the ceiling, and a baby rabbit came out of his pocket, grew wings, and flew away. And…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/humphrey-carpenter/i-can-write-he-floated-up-to-the-ceiling-and-a-baby-rabbit-came-out/) [Humphrey Carpenter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/humphrey-carpenter/) > [When I was a child, I named my rabbit Pancake and my guinea pig Maple Syrup.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sophie-dahl/when-i-was-a-child-i-named-my-rabbit-pancake-and-my-guinea-pig-maple/) [Sophie Dahl](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sophie-dahl/) > [The truth is a rabbit in a bramble patch. All you can do is circle around and say it's somewhere in there.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pete-seeger/the-truth-is-a-rabbit-in-a-bramble-patch-all-you-can-do-is-circle/) [Pete Seeger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pete-seeger/) > [Here I am in a rabbit run, here I am in a valley of pine, waiting for you to find me. I could pretend…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-siken/here-i-am-in-a-rabbit-run-here-i-am-in-a-valley-of-pine-waiting-for/) [Richard Siken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-siken/) > [“Rabbit underground, rabbit safe and sound.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-adams/rabbit-underground-rabbit-safe-and-sound/) [Richard Adams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-adams/) > [“One late-autumn day I opened the back door to fetch some water, and there was a young hare sat on my back step. Save…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neil-ansell/one-late-autumn-day-i-opened-the-back-door-to-fetch-some-water-and/) Neil Ansell > [I usually eat four or five raw carrots with my meat, and that is all. I must be part rabbit; I never get bored…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marilyn-monroe/i-usually-eat-four-or-five-raw-carrots-with-my-meat-and-that-is-all-i/) [Marilyn Monroe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marilyn-monroe/) > [“He thought he would easily win against the tiny rabbit.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/k-a-perkins/he-thought-he-would-easily-win-against-the-tiny-rabbit/) [K A Perkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/k-a-perkins/) > [Rabbit trails are fun!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/julias-cattail/rabbit-trails-are-fun/) [Julias Cattail](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/julias-cattail/) ## More by Karl Kraus > [You'd be surprised how hard it can often be to translate an action into an idea.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-kraus/you-d-be-surprised-how-hard-it-can-often-be-to-translate-an-action/) [Karl Kraus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-kraus/) > [I don't like to meddle in my private affairs.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-kraus/i-don-t-like-to-meddle-in-my-private-affairs/) [Karl Kraus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-kraus/) > [A historian is not always a prophet facing backwards, but a journalist is always someone who afterwards knew everything beforehand.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-kraus/a-historian-is-not-always-a-prophet-facing-backwards-but-a-journalist/) [Karl Kraus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-kraus/) > [When a man is treated like a beast, he says, 'After all, I'm human.' When he behaves like a beast, he says 'After all,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-kraus/when-a-man-is-treated-like-a-beast-he-says-after-all-i-m-human-when/) [Karl Kraus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-kraus/) > [They judge lest they be judged.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-kraus/they-judge-lest-they-be-judged/) [Karl Kraus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-kraus/) > [I and my public understand each other very well: it does not hear what I say, and I don't say what it wants to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-kraus/i-and-my-public-understand-each-other-very-well-it-does-not-hear-what/) [Karl Kraus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-kraus/) > [Satire that the censor understands is rightly censored.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-kraus/satire-that-the-censor-understands-is-rightly-censored/) [Karl Kraus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-kraus/) > [Hate must make a man productive. Otherwise one might as well love.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-kraus/hate-must-make-a-man-productive-otherwise-one-might-as-well-love/) [Karl Kraus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-kraus/) > [One must read all writers twice--the good as well as the bad. The one kind will be recognized; the other, unmasked.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-kraus/one-must-read-all-writers-twice-the-good-as-well-as-the-bad-the-one/) [Karl Kraus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-kraus/) > [Children today laugh at fathers who tell them about dragons. It is necessary to make fear a required subject; otherwise children will never learn…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-kraus/children-today-laugh-at-fathers-who-tell-them-about-dragons-it-is/) [Karl Kraus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-kraus/) > [The little stations are very proud because the expresses have to pass them by.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-kraus/the-little-stations-are-very-proud-because-the-expresses-have-to-pass/) [Karl Kraus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-kraus/) > [The unattractive thing about chauvinism is not so much the aversion to other nations as the love of one's own.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-kraus/the-unattractive-thing-about-chauvinism-is-not-so-much-the-aversion/) [Karl Kraus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-kraus/) > [I have often been asked to be fair and view a matter from all sides. I did so, hoping that something might improve if…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-kraus/i-have-often-been-asked-to-be-fair-and-view-a-matter-from-all-sides-i/) [Karl Kraus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-kraus/) > [In the theater one must sit in such a way that one sees the audience as a dark mass. Then it cannot bother one…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-kraus/in-the-theater-one-must-sit-in-such-a-way-that-one-sees-the-audience/) [Karl Kraus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-kraus/) > [Many desire to kill me, and many wish to spend an hour chatting with me. The law protects me from the former.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-kraus/many-desire-to-kill-me-and-many-wish-to-spend-an-hour-chatting-with/) [Karl Kraus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-kraus/) [Explore all 275 Karl Kraus quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-kraus/) ## More Psychoanalysis quotes > [A man could be a lover and defender of the wilderness without ever in his lifetime leaving the boundaries of asphalt, powerlines, and right-angled…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-abbey/a-man-could-be-a-lover-and-defender-of-the-wilderness-without-ever-in/) [Edward Abbey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-abbey/) > [If there's a lot of fear that's going on, if there's a lot of anxiety, it's manifesting itself in your nocturnal world so that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shelby-harris/if-there-s-a-lot-of-fear-that-s-going-on-if-there-s-a-lot-of-anxiety/) [Shelby Harris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shelby-harris/) > [Men have been adjudicating on what women are, and how they should behave, for millennia through the institutions of social control such as religion,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sheila-jeffreys/men-have-been-adjudicating-on-what-women-are-and-how-they-should/) [Sheila Jeffreys](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sheila-jeffreys/) > [For whatever else the religious life may be, it is the fountain of self-knowledge and disillusion, the safest form of psychoanalysis.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cs-lewis/for-whatever-else-the-religious-life-may-be-it-is-the-fountain-of/) [CS Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cs-lewis/) > [Let us not seek our disease out of ourselves; 'tis in us, and planted in our bowels; and the mere fact that we do…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seneca-the-younger/let-us-not-seek-our-disease-out-of-ourselves-tis-in-us-and-planted-in/) [Seneca the Younger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seneca-the-younger/) > [In the 1950s and early 1960s, psychoanalysis swept through the intellectual community, and it was the dominant mode of thinking about the mind. People…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eric-kandel/in-the-1950s-and-early-1960s-psychoanalysis-swept-through-the/) [Eric Kandel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eric-kandel/) > [In fact, people seem to be tired of fiction now. There are so many other ways of exploring humanity - by ethnology, psychoanalysis, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simone-de-beauvoir/in-fact-people-seem-to-be-tired-of-fiction-now-there-are-so-many/) [Simone de Beauvoir](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simone-de-beauvoir/) > [Cinema plus Psychoanalysis equals the Science of Ghosts.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jacques-derrida/cinema-plus-psychoanalysis-equals-the-science-of-ghosts/) [Jacques Derrida](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jacques-derrida/) > [The camera introduces us to unconscious optics as does psychoanalysis to unconscious impulses.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-benjamin/the-camera-introduces-us-to-unconscious-optics-as-does-psychoanalysis/) [Walter Benjamin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-benjamin/) > [Movies are as old as psychoanalysis. So if I were to put you or anyone else on a couch and say, 'Tell me your…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-sarris/movies-are-as-old-as-psychoanalysis-so-if-i-were-to-put-you-or-anyone/) [Andrew Sarris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-sarris/) > [I just always wanted to study human behavior because every psychologist that I would talk to would tell me I was bipolar, and I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kevin-gates/i-just-always-wanted-to-study-human-behavior-because-every/) [Kevin Gates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kevin-gates/) > [“En ting er fagkyndig analyse, en annen ting kvaksalveranalyse og onaniterapi.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harald-schjelderup/en-ting-er-fagkyndig-analyse-en-annen-ting-kvaksalveranalyse-og/) Harald Schjelderup > [“An old alchemist gave the following consolation to one of his disciples: “No matter how isolated you are and how lonely you feel, if…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-jung/an-old-alchemist-gave-the-following-consolation-to-one-of-his/) [Carl Jung](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-jung/) > [“Even the simple act which we describe as 'seeing someone we know' is, to some extent, an intellectual process. We pack the physical outline…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-proust/even-the-simple-act-which-we-describe-as-seeing-someone-we-know-is-to/) [Marcel Proust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcel-proust/) > [“Indoctrination is the most effective weapon”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thabiso-monkoe/indoctrination-is-the-most-effective-weapon/) [Thabiso Monkoe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thabiso-monkoe/) [Browse all 307 Psychoanalysis quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/psychoanalysis/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Psychoanalysis: a rabbit that was swallowed by a boa constrictor just wanted to see what it was like in there.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Karl Kraus" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-kraus/psychoanalysis-a-rabbit-that-was-swallowed-by-a-boa-constrictor-just/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Psychoanalysis" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-kraus/psychoanalysis-a-rabbit-that-was-swallowed-by-a-boa-constrictor-just/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f77/karl-kraus-1128_psychoanalysis_psychoanalysis-a-rabbit-that-was-swallow_1322295.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f77/karl-kraus-1128_psychoanalysis_psychoanalysis-a-rabbit-that-was-swallow_1322295.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f77/karl-kraus-1128_psychoanalysis_psychoanalysis-a-rabbit-that-was-swallow_1322295.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Psychoanalysis: a rabbit that was swallowed by a boa constrictor just wanted to see what it was like in there.” — Karl Kraus", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Karl Kraus", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-kraus/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Psychoanalysis: a rabbit that was swallowed...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-kraus/psychoanalysis-a-rabbit-that-was-swallowed-by-a-boa-constrictor-just/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-kraus/psychoanalysis-a-rabbit-that-was-swallowed-by-a-boa-constrictor-just/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```